The current Papa Johns CEO, Rob Lynch, took charge in 2019 and has made the chain one of the most profitable and popular pizza delivery restaurants. He moved over to Papa Johns from Arby’s, where he coined the slogan “we have the meats.” He used his years of leadership experience to make important changes at Papa Johns, and the results have been spectacular and profitable.
Looking Behind the Curtain
The success of Papa Johns Rob Lynch was due to a multifaceted approach to change things around in the company.
Menu Innovation
Making changes to the menu was one of the main contributors to increased sales. Lynch’s goal was to add new menu items that did not require new or different ingredients from the existing ones.
One of the places he started was the crust. The former CEO refused to make any changes to the original crust, but Lynch had different ideas. He came up with the stuffed crust, which became extremely popular and is now also available stuffed with pepperoni or garlic. There is also the New York style, thin, and gluten free crusts.
Another new item he introduced was the Papadia. These are basically handheld pizza sandwiches made on original or parmesan crusted flatbread, using flavorful combinations of existing ingredients. The available Papadias include:
• BBQ chicken and bacon
• Philly cheesesteak
• Meatball pepperoni
• Italian
• Grilled buffalo chicken
The chefs at Papa Johns are constantly coming up with different pizza specialties, such as the super Hawaiian and the pepperoni and Hatch green chile.
Lynch continues to add items to meet customer wishes, such as boneless wings and the crustless Papa Bowl. There are also regular specials. One is the Papa Pairings menu, in which each item is only $6.99 when you order more than one item.
Marketing Reset
Lynch focused on marketing to not only promote new menu items, but also to restore the company’s reputation. He brought on Shaquille O’Neal to be the ambassador for the brand, and this was a popular move. You will even see the Shaq-A-Roni and other Shaq-inspired items featured on the menu every once in a while. There is also a special TikTok account to promote the restaurant.
Franchisee Support
Supporting franchises was another move that had great results. On his first day of the job, Lynch reached out to franchisees to figure out what they needed help and support with. He invested millions to support and attract operators, which has resulted in the exploding growth of new restaurants and increased sales revenue.
Lynch’s goal was to create an environment that was productive and seamless, and his marketing approach and menu changes did just that for individual store operators.
Management Changes
One of the first things Lynch did as the new CEO of Papa Johns was replace the upper management team with new faces. Not only did this take a step in the right direction to boost company morale, but it also brought in a new set of brains to help determine the direction that the store needed to go.
