PAPA JOHN’S ANNOUNCES QUARTER 3 PERFORMANCE
Thursday 1st October
Papa John’s pizza, one of the leading delivery and take-away companies, is accelerating its UK expansion plans after reporting a 15th consecutive quarter of comparative sales growth.
The US-based company, which aims to have over 150 stores in the UK and Ireland by the year end, achieved like for like sales growth of 8.9 per cent in quarter three of 2009 – with a total year to date increase in sales of 30.9 per cent.
Those figures were boosted late in the quarter by a sales boom following the company’s aggressive targeting of pizza connoisseurs with an independent product quality test which showed that Papa John’s pizza was preferred to that of the industry’s biggest player.
The research, carried out by independent agency Marketing Sciences, revealed that more people prefer Papa’s Pepperoni to Pizza Hut’s Pepperoni Feast – with more generous, thicker toppings and a better taste the main stated reasons.
Papa John’s pulled off an additional coup by being named favourite amongst Pizza Hut’s own customers, with 64 per cent of those who eat at Pizza Hut most often declaring the Papa John’s product their favourite.
On course to complete their 2009 scheduled opening programme early, Papa John’s is now looking to ramp up its expansion in the early part of 2010 and has earmarked a host of additional sites.
Papa John’s has also seen business boom as Britain’s stay at home culture continues to build at the weekends, with prime time TV scheduling helping the company to achieve record on-line sales performances for both Friday and Saturday nights.
Q3 Highlights:
Contributing factors:
- Preference claim Vs Pizza Hut appears to have driven significant trial of the Papa John’s product, with transactions around the launch of the claim increasing by 2.5 per cent.
- New scheduling of flagship BBC and ITV programmes (X-Factor and Strictly Come Dancing) have enhanced the big night in factor for consumers, with September seeing the company deliver record ever online Friday and Saturday night sales.
- New store opening schedule remains on target with 138 stores currently open and around 20 more to be completed by the end of 2009.
- Highest ever Papa John’s investment in media during the summer of 2009 (including TV advertising campaign) continues to drive new consumers to trial the product.
Papa John’s comment:
EMEA Senior Marketing Director, Simon Wallis:
“As we have grown in the UK and Ireland we wanted to introduce more and more consumers to our brand promise of ‘Better Ingredients, Better Pizza’ and demonstrate to them our passion for producing great pizza, and in Quarter three we demonstrated that by beating the market leader in extensive product research.
“It was a clear way to show that once people tasted our pizza they would instantly notice the emphasis we place on using generous portions of top quality ingredients such as pepperoni, and combining that with our dough pledge of 100 per cent fresh, never frozen.
“That simple message has had a big impact in the final few weeks of the quarter and we are looking to build on that to introduce more and more people to our product.
“We have always stressed that customers are looking for value for money – not necessarily the cheapest, and we are seeing that reflected in our performance.
“This success has not been achieved through slashing prices, but it has been achieved through providing great value packages around a consistently good product that customers can rely on.
“Papa John’s has also benefited from the ‘big weekend in’ culture that has gained momentum from the new scheduling of X-Factor and Strictly, and we are noticing that this armchair audience is taking time to browse and choose on-line – adding to their relaxing evening.
“It is no co-incidence that the preference claim and the launch of those two huge shows saw us have our biggest two on-line weekend nights of the year, and that is a fantastic boost for us because it shows that people are hearing our message, checking us out and then ordering from us.”
NOTES TO EDITORS:
Photography, and interviews with Simon Wallis can be arranged by calling Dan on 0121 355 3446 or emailing dan@haslimanntaylor.com
Headquartered in Louisville, Kentucky, Papa John's International, Inc. (NASDAQ: PZZA) is the world's third largest pizza company. For nine years running, consumers have rated Papa John's No. 1 in customer satisfaction among all national pizza chains in the highly regarded American Customer Satisfaction Index (ACSI). Papa John's also ranks first among pizza companies in the 2008 Brand Keys Customer Loyalty Engagement Index and was named 2007 Pizza Today Chain of the Year.
In the UK, Papa John's is the current Pizza and Pasta Association’s Delivery Operator of the Year among pizza chains, and has been for three of the last four years.