Papa John’s continues its hot streak with 24% same-store sales growth in AugustPapa John’s continues its hot streak with 24% same-store sales growth in August

Joanna Fantozzi

As Papa John’s continues to see success throughout the pandemic while delivery sales soar, the Louisville, Ky.-based pizza chain just announced that same-store sales have grown 24.2% for North America sales during a mid-quarter business update for the period of July 27 to August 23.

International sales, which were sluggish during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, have also seen significant improvement from increasing by 6% in June to 23.3% in the latest period. While international numbers have grown significantly, North America performance remains steady as Papa John’s announced similar performance numbers of 28% same-store sales growth for the second quarter ended June 28.   

“Papa John’s sales, driven by product innovation, remained strong in August,” Papa John’s president and CEO Rob Lynch said. “As we have added new customers throughout 2020, our customer satisfaction and brand affinity scores also continue rising. Our international business gained further momentum in August too and continues to improve as more countries across the globe open back up for business.”

The company has repeated the same message of product innovation leading to sales growth while much of the rest of the industry falters during this period of instability, crediting new menu items like the Papadia and Shaquille O’Neal-branded Shaq-a-Roni with their growth. But in the previous quarter, Lynch also pegged their success on their quick pivot to digital engagement.

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“Mobile ordering is our fastest-growing platform as customer ordering and consumption continues to be affected by pandemic,” Lynch said during the Q2 earnings call earlier in August. “This is accelerating our growth.”

As of the third week in August, 150 of the company’s 2,100 international stores remain closed, mostly in areas of Europe and Latin America, as recovery from the pandemic continues. Papa John’s also reiterated that they would be continuing to release monthly updates as “the uncertainty and volatility related to the pandemic” continues.  

Papa John’s is expected to report its third quarter results at the start of November.

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