Papa John's opens 50th store in East Ham

Monday 13 th May

The founder of Papa John’s Pizza, John Schnatter, jetted in from the USA to officially open the company’s 50th store in London on Tuesday 12th May. At the event at the East Ham Papa John’s, John Schnatter was joined by John Coronado, commercial attaché for the US Embassy, to help celebrate the landmark store opening. Before he arrived in the UK, John had announced that to celebrate the opening of the 50th store, he would give away free pizzas to the first 100 people to come along on the day. On Tuesday morning his arrival was heralded by scores of local residents queuing up to try a Papa John’s pizza.

John founded Papa John’s Pizza in the USA in 1984. He sold his beloved Camaro car to buy his first oven and soon began selling pizzas.  25 years later and Papa John’s is the third largest pizza company in the world, with more than 3400 stores in 30 countries. In the UK Papa John’s is the current Pizza Delivery Chain of the Year 2008 according to the Pizza, Pasta and Italian Food Association.

John said: “I am delighted to be officially opening the 50th Papa John’s store in London, only 10 years after the company launched in this country. Papa John’s UK is a key international growth area for our company, and is setting the benchmark in terms of expansion for other countries across the world.”

Muniba Lughmani is the proud franchise owner of the East Ham store. The 39 year old mother-of-two is one of only a handful of female Papa John’s franchisees, and comes to the company after eight years with Dominos.