Papa John's sees 30 per cent increase in sales (Business Franchise Story)

Papa John's sees 30 per cent increase in sales

Papa John's Pizza has seen a total sales increase of more than 30 per cent in the period from April to June, with comparative sales 14 per cent up on the same period in 2008.
Following this success, Papa John's will be heavily investing in the growth of its UK business, which includes the launch of Papa John's own UK dough production facility to help franchisees to cater for the company's expanding production requirements.
UK MD Ian Saunders said: "Our results show that the business model and management here in the UK is continuing to reap dividends, delivering greater growth than we posted in quarter one.

"We have had an exceptional start to the first six months of the year and it appears that our core brand focal points of tremendous pizza quality, menu innovation and strong value position is helping us to make further headway in the UK pizza market.

"Over the past 12 months we have continued to focus very strongly on every aspect of our 'Better Ingredients. Better Pizza' proposition, and we believe it is this commitment that has led to our growth in sales.

"Our recent success has created a buzz about the brand that is fuelling future growth and this is particularly noticeable in London. We have now seen Papa John's grow substantially over the last four years with total sales increasing by 92 per cent. Online incidence has doubled in the last three years. Openings have gathered pace with over 150 stores estimated by the end of 2009. The 'pizzaiolo' training programme continues our focus on improving the knowledge and skills of our pizza makers in every store and our pizza quality measurements show the benefits this has brought.

"Papa John's is now finally fulfilling its potential here in the UK and this has led to us to look to ensure the foundations are there for us to move to the next level. We are investing in a new dough production facility which will provide the capacity for our growth going forward. "

The excellent facilities at the 50,000 square feet production facility in Milton Keynes will allow Papa John's far greater control over quality and consistency as well as the capacity to produce our famous "100% fresh, never frozen" dough for Papa John's stores across the UK.

On top of the incredible growth in online sales in 2008, we are continuing to see a shift in consumer ordering habits to online, with an increase of nearly 40 per cent (39.4 per cent) in the second quarter, compared to the same period last year. We remain confident that by the end of 2009 we will have grown our sales average to at least 30 per cent taken through our very easy to use on-line ordering website.

We have already opened 17 new stores in the first half of the year and we are confident that we will achieve our target of 30-40 new stores in 2009. We expect to be able to continue this momentum and our five-year goal is to have a minimum of 300 stores open in the UK and Ireland by the end of 2013.

Highlights:

* Like-for-like sales growth was at 14 per cent in quarter 2 2009 (8.5% Q1)

* System sales rose by 30.6 per cent in Q2 (12.2% Q1).

* 7 new stores have been opened taking the total number of Papa John's to 135 in the UK and Ireland. In 2009, 17 new stores have been opened.

* On-line sales increased in 2009 Q2 by 39.4 per cent on 2008 Q2 figures, with 25.9% of all orders coming through this channel - showing continued growth on the previous quarter.