Papa John Steps Down (2 Viewers)

Nunz

Nitro Member
i guess John Schnatter has stepped down from his CEO position. Wonder if this will impact his sponsorships...
 
I saw that he will remain chairman of the board, so hopefully they stay involved in racing.
 
Depends on the length of the contracts with NHRA and DSR, as well as how Papa John's is doing financially. It wouldn't surprise me if Papa steps back in order to "right the ship" and get sales numbers back with their competitors. I don't want to see them leave, but sometimes it's a necessary evil.
 
I thought I read on here a while back he was sponsoring Leah's fuel car for fewer races in 2018 than he did in 2017?
 
Papa John has had a rough few months. There is the NFL comments, but he is also on the board of trustees at the University of Louisville, and they are being sued by Rick Pitino. Pitino personally believes that Papa John is the reason he was fired. That lawsuit is going to be VERY ugly for all involved, and discovery phase is going to be interesting to say the least.

With all of that said, I wouldn't worry about it too much. He is still Chairman of the Board and he has stepped down from the CEO role before (2005-2010) only to come back.
 
Not sure that I understand the problems with his NFL comments. He is a substantial sponsor of the NFL. The taking a knee protest cost him a notable and measurable loss of business. He comments on the loss of business and the NFL's poor response to handle the situation, which did upset many fans across the country and he is then vilified by various groups for expressing his opinion of the protest and NFL response, which is certainly his right to do. Many other local sponsors also pulled their support of the NFL because of the players protest. Wonder if they met the same level of public backlash for doing what they believed in?
 
Yeah I really don't have a problem with the NFL comments. I don't care about a companies CEO's personal beliefs, or anyones for that matter as long as people aren't getting physically hurt people can believe whatever they like.

If the product is good I will buy it. If he is standing down over the NFL comments then damn people must be walking on egg shells at the top of these big companies. It seems if you fart and offend someone you have to stand down these days.
 
No, not comments that John made, PAPA JOHNS as a sponsoring company of the NFL took a huge hit, as did others when the boycotts began. You can't win afterwards, any comments made will just piss off one group or another.
 
No...he had the temerity to tell the truth, that is, this "Knee Protest" is hurting his business.
Obviously, EVERYONE associated with the NFL is getting hit (especially, the league itself). Unfortunately, public companies are punished when they tell the truth.
PS: Doesn't matter whether you support the aims of the protest or not: Ain't nobody coming out unscathed.
OK, who did he touch inappropriately?

Huh? The NFL?
Boy this is getting complicated.....
 
Papa John has my full support...his business took a hit and he told it like it was.

Now, if he was a "toucher" (ala Franken) Leah would have decked him but good.....:D
 
I'm close friends with a couple of the guys near the top with Marco's Pizza, and when one of them was in our shop the other day, he laughed at that whole deal. He said that the protests weren't what is killing Papa John's. He said that it was the recent restructuring/marketing that Domino's came out with, and that it started before the protests BS took hold and that it was hurting ALL of them, not just Papa John's. I never followed through with researching any of it, but these two guys, one guy in particular is one of THE guys.

Sean D
 
The reason for Papa Johns sales drop is so over analyzed. It's as is simple as one specific issue:
Their pizza sucks..
...and now everyone knows it and doesn't buy it anymore.
So many better choices out there.
 
None of the chain store pizza is really good compared to real pizza restaurants who know how to make it. The goal of big chain pizza marketing is to make you think its better than it is and make it quickly as most folks hate to wait
 
I don't accept that. There might be places in the country where Papa's might be the best available. I mean Pizza Hut, and Domino's have been around a while and - compared to "local" - it's not even close. If you're living in a pizza desert "sumpthin's better than nothin'"
Same goes for the likes of Carraba's and Olive Garden (What do they know about Eye-talian food in Minneapolis <now Orlando>?).


The reason for Papa Johns sales drop is so over analyzed. It's as is simple as one specific issue:
Their pizza sucks..
...and now everyone knows it and doesn't buy it anymore.
So many better choices out there.
 
None of the chain store pizza is really good compared to real pizza restaurants who know how to make it. The goal of big chain pizza marketing is to make you think its better than it is and make it quickly as most folks hate to wait

This is the whole point right here. Papa John's are NOT competing against your local good pie joint. They are competing against Domino's, Pizza Hut, etc for the fast and cheap pizza market, which is much, much larger than people who consider themselves pizza aficionados that only want premium pizza (Papa John's was never going to get their business anyway).

Also, all of these giant corporations pay people to figure out every metric of their sales. They know why sales go up and down and have the data to back it up. Papa John was not making something up out of whole cloth regarding the NFL. If the NFL viewership is down a certain percentage, that is a certain percentage of viewers that are not seeing Papa John's marketing, and therefor there will be a corresponding dip in sales. Where Papa John messed up was actually saying it out loud in public.
 
No...he had the temerity to tell the truth, that is, this "Knee Protest" is hurting his business.

Knee protests aren't what's hurting his business. It makes a nice scapegoat though.

Think about what you're saying - in essence people are tuning out because they disagree with knee protests. Then a CEO gives his personal opinion against the NFL and protests - wouldn't logic say there are tons of people who agree with him and want to support him? You can't play both sides of the coin.

Fact is that there are other chains with better quality food, expanding rapidly (https://marcosfranchising.com/2016/10/14/marcos-pizza-franchise-rapid-growth/). "Better Ingredients, Better Pizza" is a nice marketing phrase but it will only carry one so long before someone who actually produces a better product swoops in and takes your business. Face it, PJ's has offered mediocre pizza (nothing wrong with that - it is what it is) for far too long. Look at Pizza Hut and Dominos, they have somewhat reinvented themselves while PJ's has virtually not made any change in product quality or diversity.
 
We're beating a dead horse.
Whether you think PJ's is great, awful, or mediocre, sales prior to "the knee" were "X" and declined to "X-minus" AFTER the protest (and political 'conversation') ensued.
The ingredients didn't change - the competitive environment didn't change - neither Trump nor Obama bad mouthed PJ or any of the other advertisers - "but for the protest" sales would have poked along at a predicable rate. The "hit" was material and immediate - Papa MAY have made it worse by commenting on its' effect but, the numbers don't lie.

PS: You may remember "the NASCAR effect" - The interested parties were able to demonstrate a bump in the stock price immediately after Sunday afternoon where a (newly?) sponsored car had significant TV exposure. I think that cause/effect has waned in subsequent years. Wish we could demonstrate a similar cause/result for NHRA sponsors.

Knee protests aren't what's hurting his business. It makes a nice scapegoat though.

Think about what you're saying - in essence people are tuning out because they disagree with knee protests. Then a CEO gives his personal opinion against the NFL and protests - wouldn't logic say there are tons of people who agree with him and want to support him? You can't play both sides of the coin
 
Knee protests aren't what's hurting his business. It makes a nice scapegoat though.

Think about what you're saying - in essence people are tuning out because they disagree with knee protests.

The point of your second statement I think is the big one. If I'm paying to put an add on your show thinking that I'm going to have a million people see it, but the actions of some are causing people to "Tune Out" then my add is not being seen by those people and that is going to cost me business.

There's a reason adds cost more on a prime time hit show than on a rerun of a show on cable, you (as an advertiser) are paying for impressions, if the show is not delivering the impressions, then the advertiser is not getting what he was promised and paid for. If the reason is because of something being done to turn off some of the audience then I think the advertiser has every right to question why it is happening.

Just my opinion
Alan
 
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