Ritchie goes from hourly team member to
franchisee to CEO in 21 years
Papa John's International, Inc. (NASDAQ: PZZA), the world's
third-largest pizza delivery company, today announced the promotion
of Steve Ritchie to Chief Executive Officer, effective January 1,
2018.
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Papa John’s Promotes Steve Ritchie to CEO
(Photo: Business Wire)
Mr. Ritchie, 43, started with Papa John's in 1996 as a customer
service representative at $6 per hour. In 2006, he became a Papa
John's franchise owner and operator, then in 2010 began serving in
increasing capacities of leadership in operations until being
promoted to Chief Operating Officer in 2014. Ritchie was added to
the succession plan for the company's top job in 2015 when he was
named President.
“I am so proud of Steve – he has excelled at every job he’s ever
held at Papa John’s – from being an hourly customer service rep, to
a delivery driver, store general manager, director of operations,
franchisee and most recently President,” said Papa John’s founder,
John Schnatter. “With 120,000 Papa John’s corporate and franchise
employees, Steve will put the spotlight on our pizza and the most
important ingredient – our team members. We couldn’t have a more
proven leader to guide Papa John’s through its next stage of
growth.”
As Chief Executive Officer, Mr. Ritchie will lead Papa John’s
global development and facilitate the brand’s marketing, digital
and customer experience evolution. Recent hires of Mike Nettles as
Chief Information and Digital Officer, Brandon Rhoten as Chief
Marketing Officer and the addition of a digital-first creative
agency of record, Laundry Service, underpin the brand’s emphasis on
digital marketing and technology. But the company’s primary focus
will be on its team members.
"I am humbled to take on this role,” said Ritchie. "By focusing
on our team members, we will deliver the world class experiences
our customers deserve. At Papa John’s, any opportunity is
achievable if you dedicate yourself to putting your best foot
forward every day. I’m certain our future company leaders are
delivering pizzas in one of our 5,000 stores around the world right
now.”
At Papa John’s, 98% of restaurant managers are promoted from
hourly positions – delivery drivers, customer service team members
and shift managers – within the company.
In his duties as Chairman and founder, Schnatter will continue
to champion the core principles that led to recognition as the
industry leader in product quality and customer satisfaction. He
will also pursue his personal passion for entrepreneurship,
leadership development and education.
About Papa John’s
Headquartered in Louisville, Kentucky, Papa John's
International, Inc. (NASDAQ: PZZA) is the world's third-largest
pizza delivery company. For 16 of the past 18 years, consumers have
rated Papa John's No. 1 in customer satisfaction among all national
pizza chains in the American Customer Satisfaction Index (ACSI).
For more information about the company or to order pizza online,
visit Papa John's at www.papajohns.com.
Forward-Looking
Statements
Certain matters discussed in this press release constitute
forward-looking statements within the meaning of the federal
securities laws. Generally, the use of words such as “expect,”
“intend,” “estimate,” “believe,” “anticipate,” “will,” “forecast,”
“plan,” “project,” or similar words identify forward-looking
statements that we intend to be included within the safe harbor
protections provided by the federal securities laws. Such
forward-looking statements may relate to projections or predictions
concerning business performance, future strategy and prospects, the
performance of the Papa John’s brand, customer experience, as well
as business and financial performance, including revenue, earnings,
cash flow, and other financial and operational measures. Such
statements are not guarantees of future performance and involve
certain risks, uncertainties and assumptions, which are difficult
to predict and many of which are beyond our control. Therefore,
actual outcomes and our results may differ materially from those
matters expressed or implied in such forward-looking statements.
The risks, uncertainties and assumptions that are involved in our
forward-looking statements include, but are not limited to: the
successful navigation of the brand’s marketing and digital
evolution, the performance of our new senior leadership, aggressive
changes in pricing or other marketing or promotional strategies by
competitors, which may adversely affect sales and profitability;
and new product and concept developments by food industry
competitors; changes in consumer preferences or consumer buying
habits, including changes in general economic conditions or other
factors that may affect consumer confidence and discretionary
spending; changes in our liquidity or changes in the debt markets
in general, including adverse changes in interest rates, and our
ability to meet debt service requirements; the adverse impact on
the company or our results caused by product recalls, food quality
or safety issues, incidences of foodborne illness, food
contamination and other general public health concerns about our
company-owned or franchised restaurants or others in the restaurant
industry; failure to maintain our brand strength, quality
reputation and consumer enthusiasm for our better ingredients
marketing and advertising strategy; the ability of the company and
its franchisees to meet planned growth targets and operate new and
existing restaurants profitably, including difficulties finding
qualified franchisees, store level employees or suitable sites;
increases in food costs or sustained higher other operating costs.
This could include increased employee compensation, benefits,
insurance, tax rates, new regulatory requirements or increasing
compliance costs; increases in insurance claims and related costs
for programs funded by the company up to certain retention limits,
including medical, owned and non-owned automobiles, workers’
compensation, general liability and property; disruption of our
supply chain or commissary operations which could be caused by our
sole source of supply of cheese or limited source of suppliers for
other key ingredients or more generally due to weather, natural
disasters including drought, disease, or geopolitical or other
disruptions beyond our control; increased risks associated with our
international operations, including economic and political
conditions, instability or uncertainty in our international
markets, especially emerging markets, fluctuations in currency
exchange rates, difficulty in meeting planned sales targets and new
store growth; the impact of current or future claims and
litigation, including labor and employment-related claims; current,
proposed or future legislation that could impact our business;
failure to effectively execute succession planning; disruption of
critical business or information technology systems, or those of
our suppliers, and risks associated with systems failures and data
privacy and security breaches, including theft of confidential
company, employee and customer information, including payment
cards; and changes in GAAP, including new standards for accounting
for share-based compensation that may result in changes to our net
income. These and other risk factors are discussed in detail in
“Part I. Item 1A. – Risk Factors” in our Annual Report on Form 10-K
for the fiscal year ended December 25, 2016. We undertake no
obligation to update publicly any forward-looking statements,
whether as a result of future events, new information or otherwise,
except as required by law.
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version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20171221005983/en/
Papa John’s International, Inc.Peter Collins, 502-261-4233Senior
Director, Public Relationspeter_collins@papajohns.com
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