Papa John's International History: Founding, Timeline, and Milestones - Zippia (2024)

The Papa John's restaurant was founded in 1984 when "Papa" John Schnatter knocked out a broom closet in the back of his father's tavern, Mick's Lounge, in Jeffersonville, Indiana.

By March 1985, the two partners, along with a few helpers, were making 3,000 to 4,000 pizzas a week.

In January 1986 the company was incorporated and able to stand on its own.

Behind the focused strength of this strategy, Papa John's generated revenues of $500,000 in its first year and opened two more restaurants in the "Kentuckiana" region, including the first franchised outlet. (The company headquarters were shifted to Louisville, Kentucky, in 1989.)

In 1989 Schnatter enlisted the services of pizza industry veteran Dan Holland to help the company strengthen its financial base and fashion a strategy for further growth.

Gatti's and Pizza Hut, Holland, who took over as company president in 1990, brought more than a decade of experience in the pizza business to Papa John's.

In June 1993, Papa John's went public with an initial offering of 1.55 million shares at $13 a share.

The commissaries, which were designed to serve a 400-mile radius, enabled the company to open its 400th store in 1993, nearly doubling the size of the company from the previous year.

Just as Papa John's was nearing the 500-store milestone in mid-1994, it was named by Business Week as the nation's best-run small business, based on three-year results in sales growth, earnings growth, and return on invested capital.

In 1994, for instance, approximately 80 percent of all purchases were made using a coupon, at a savings of about 17 percent.

Papiernik, Richard L., "Papa John's 'Simple' Policy Pays Off: Profits up 77%," Nation's Restaurant News, March 6, 1995.

Egerton, Judith, "Papa John's at 10: The Growth Is Spectacular," Louisville Courier-Journal, April 17, 1995.

Cooper, Ron, "Focus Was Key Ingredient in Schnatter's Success," Business First-Louisville, June 12, 1995.

Another milestone was reached in August 1996 when the 1,000th Papa John's opened for business.

In October 1996 the menu was tweaked with the addition of thin crust pizza to go alongside the traditional crust the company had been selling since its founding.

A year later it had 500 stores, and by 1997 it had opened 1,500 stores.

By early 1998 the Papa John's system included nine commissaries/distribution centers supporting more than 1,500 units.

In late 1999 a jury found both companies guilty, and in January of the following year a federal district judge ruled that Papa John's had to stop using the "Better Ingredients.

Redding, Rick, "Building an Empire Schnatter Style," Business First of Louisville, April 2, 1999.

Eagles, Cynthia, "Papa John's Nears 3,000-Store Milestone," Business First of Louisville, November 26, 2001.

The company began closing underperforming units in 2001, countering the more limited store openings.

On the overseas front, Papa John's entered China in 2003, its 14th international market, and it also converted 60 Perfect Pizza restaurants in the United Kingdom to the Papa John's format, reducing the Perfect Pizza chain to 135 locations.

In 2003, for instance, 103 Papa John's restaurants were opened but 105 were shuttered.

With sales for 2005 expected to remain stagnant or increase no more than 2 percent, Papa John's kept its expansion plans in check, anticipating opening 80 to 100 domestic units while closing a similar number.

In 2005, after three years of falling profits, Schnatter stepped down as CEO for the first time.

Travis left to become CEO of Dunkin’ Brands in 2008, and Schnatter returned to power.

In 2009, Schnatter bought the Camaro back after offering a reward of $250,000 for the car.

Schnatter tapped a former executive from Anthem insurance, Jude Thompson, to help run Papa John’s as co-CEO in April 2010.

On May 22, 2010, the first ever Bitcoin transaction was made between Laszlo Hanyecz and Jeremy Sturdivant.

Customers were sent a total of 500,000 unwanted messages in early 2010, typically for pizza deals, and some even complained of getting 15 or 16 texts in a row, some even in the middle of the night.

Thompson departed in 2011, after just 12 months as co-CEO. Schnatter tapped a senior vice president, Tony Thompson (no relation to Jude), to be chief operating officer and then president, which multiple sources say ushered in a brief cultural respite.

May, 2012: It was in 2012 that Schnatter began getting involved in politics, during the reelection campaign for President Barack Obama.

When a Louisville publication named him to its Forty Under 40 list in 2013, Ritchie was asked to name his role model. “John Schnatter,” he answered.

That includes international president Tim O’Hern, a close friend of Schnatter’s from Jeffersonville High School, as well as current CEO Steve Ritchie, who worked directly for Schnatter for three years and has run daily operations since 2014. “John got Steve to where he is.

November, 2017: Schnatter’s woes really went into overdrive in 2017 when he ill-advisedly weighed in on the the controversy of NFL players who were peacefully protesting by taking a knee during the national anthem.

In September 2020, Papa John's announced plans to move its global headquarters to the Atlanta metropolitan area.

Louisville, KY

John Schnatter