Rob Lynch is leaving his role as CEO of Papa Johns to take on the same position at Shake Shack, effective May 20. Lynch succeeds Randy Garutti, who announced his intentions to retire in December after leading the company for more than two decades. Garutti will transition as an advisor in May to ensure a smooth transition.
Lynch was hired at Papa Johns in August 2019 and helped drive record global systemwide sales of over $5 billion at the company. He has also led the company’s growth to approximately 5,900 units.
Lynch will remain at Papa Johns in an advisory role until April 30, and the company said that is currently on the lookout for the next CEO. In the interim, current Papa Johns CFO, Ravi Thanawala, will helm the company until a new CEO is announced.
HIs transition comes on the heels of a strong quarterly and fiscal year performance from Papa Johns, as well as the pizza chain's recently announced “Back to Better 2.0” strategy. Back to Better 2.0 was developed to drive franchisee profitability by lowering marketing expenditure requirements from 8% to 6%. The strategy is supposed to kickstart development through the new incentive and involves investing more in national marketing spend.