>Pizza chain Papa Johns has confirmed it will close nearly a tenth of its UK restaurants – all of which it says are “underperforming”.
>The closures follow a review of the business which began in January and identified locations which were “no longer financially viable”.
>The chain, which has 450 restaurants plus others in service stations and holiday parks, will close 43 sites.
>The company has not said how many jobs will be affected.
>Papa Johns UK managing director Chris Phylactou said: “Our priority is our team members, who will be fully supported throughout this process.
>”Our goal is to work with impacted team members and attempt to find redeployment opportunities where available.”
>The closures are all in England and extend from Harrogate, North Yorkshire to St Helens, Merseyside, Billericay, Essex and Eastbourne, East Sussex.
>All of them were “underperforming locations that are no longer financially viable”, the company said.
>The group had previously said it planned “strategic closures” in order to free up money for investment and improving profitability at its remaining UK sites.
>The company intends to use the money to invest in its remaining UK sites. It plans to expand further into non-traditional sites like holiday parks and the chain said it would “announce other large retail partners in the coming months”.
>Separately, Revolution Bars has said it could put itself up for sale as part of a review of the business.
>Its announcement followed press reports that said could shut about 20 bars, or a roughly a quarter of its outlets.
>Revolution said that following a period of “external challenges” which had hit its performance it was “actively exploring all the strategic options available to it to improve the future prospects of the group”.
>This could include restructuring parts of the group or a sale of “all or part of” the group, it said.
>The chain, which has 450 restaurants plus others in service stations and holiday parks, will close 43 sites.
>The company has not said how many jobs will be affected.
CastleofWamdue on
I do love how we think about the word “decimate”, when it is in fact 1 in 10.
wkavinsky on
Well, if people can’t afford to pay £25 for delivered pizza, you’re going to have a real problem with profitable sites.
catdog5566cat on
I’m not surprised!
There’s a Papa Johns in my town, it’s right by all of the other pizza places.
It doesn’t deliver to my house, but all of the others do!
it’s on uberEats which does do delivery to my house, but it has no deals at all on it so it charges like £25 just for a pizza, where as with Dominos or Pizza hut you’re getting full on meal deals for that prize, with one or two larger pizza with sides and deserts.
So yeah, it’s the worst out of the big 3, the most expensive, and the least convenient in my area.
doomed to fail!
SpoderSuperhero on
Yeah, maybe the reason they’re underperforming is the shit pizza for sky-high prices. Why would I spend £22 for a chain pizza when I can get a traditional wood-fired one for significantly less at a local restaurant?
TheSpaceFace on
I know they differ from franchise to franchise but the papa johns near me takes over 2 hours to deliver and anytime it’s come it’s cold and soggy.
Dominoes which are next door deliver in 20 minutes for cheaper.
Tofru on
I used to get ‘the greek’ pizza everytime. Since COVID the ingredients and cheese has become sub standard and they’ve removed the oregano herb sprinklings too. The price has remained the same though. I’ve since moved on.
Buttered_Bourbons on
Pizza is the biggest scam going. No other fast food has such stupid, convoluted pricing that relies on “deals” to actually get a fair price for anything. £12.99 is a fair price for a large pizza so why not just sell them at that price instead of making me buy 4 of them or buy on a Monday etc
somethingdarkside45 on
Told them replacing the default garlic dip with that generic garlic and herb shit you get at every pizza joint was a bad idea. Did they listen? No!
ButteredNun on
Life’s most important three word phrase:
Have enough cheese
corf3l on
Next to Coffee, Pizza has to be one of the biggest markups
When you actually make a pizza yourself and realise how simple and low cost it is, you realise how ridiculous it is to pay £20+ for one
I’m not surprised they’re under performing in this economy
moss_2703 on
Don’t get the hate for it. Usually do £10 for a large.
GDIBarker on
Makes sense. Fuck that company.
They are like domino’s price wise, full price is ludicrous but their app just has constant vouchers that you apply so you get 50% off at £30. we’d end up with 2 large pizzas, a big drink or side for £25. So their profit margins are insane if people buy them at full price.
BUT
Their customer service/complaint handling is one of the worst I have encountered, up there with Just Eat. So bad that when we had a genuine issue they treated the situation so poorly I would never use them again.
Basically it was “it’s not our fault you have dietary requirements and you can’t eat the thing that you specifically told us to not put on it. We’re keeping your money and not fixing the issue. Here’s a voucher that you have to spend a minimum of £15 to use, and here’s a link to the legalese we have in our terms and conditions which allows us to treat you like the nothing you are, valued customer”.
​
Unfortunately, as ever, the company will be a success for those at the top.
“Great business people”, they must be protected
havaska on
I’ve had Papa Johns once in the last five years and it was awful. They’re struggling because it’s rubbish pizza that’s massively over priced.
Worth_Comfortable_99 on
I can take the family to pizza express for much better pizza at a better price and they throw some freebies in also. In fact, I WILL take the family there tonight. There, dinner sorted.
UusiIsoKaveri on
The word decimate has negative connotations that make it sound more catastrophic because it was a form of punishment during the Roman times. It basically meant 1 out of 10 soldiers in a unit would be killed as a means of punishment, hence “decimate”.
The original word has lost its meaning as our definition nowadays is to “kill, destroy, or remove a large proportion of”, which is not the case in the article, hence not correctly used.
ConnectPreference166 on
I like Papa Johns pizza, better than the other chains IMO
Ex-art-obs1988 on
Before Covid mediocre restaurant were allowed to flourish. People had excess money and low expectations.
Now the amount of free money available is a lot lower, people are spending money more selectively.
These poor quality restaurants will suffer until either the price drops or the quality improves significantly
komarktoze on
Feel like I’m in the minority reading the comments, I love a papa johns pizza.
I almost never get takeaways though. Far too expensive for me now. But when the time comes I do check for a papa johns deal
Railjim on
Papa johns have been closing their shops for some time, they’ve already closed all but one of their shops near me.
CloneOfKarl on
The price for their pizzas is way too high. I’m surprised it’s only 1 in 10 being shut down.
Hunter-Ki11er on
I always preferred Papa Johns compared to Pizza Hut (too expensive!) and Dominos
22 Comments
Full Article
>Pizza chain Papa Johns has confirmed it will close nearly a tenth of its UK restaurants – all of which it says are “underperforming”.
>The closures follow a review of the business which began in January and identified locations which were “no longer financially viable”.
>The chain, which has 450 restaurants plus others in service stations and holiday parks, will close 43 sites.
>The company has not said how many jobs will be affected.
>Papa Johns UK managing director Chris Phylactou said: “Our priority is our team members, who will be fully supported throughout this process.
>”Our goal is to work with impacted team members and attempt to find redeployment opportunities where available.”
>The closures are all in England and extend from Harrogate, North Yorkshire to St Helens, Merseyside, Billericay, Essex and Eastbourne, East Sussex.
>All of them were “underperforming locations that are no longer financially viable”, the company said.
>The group had previously said it planned “strategic closures” in order to free up money for investment and improving profitability at its remaining UK sites.
>The company intends to use the money to invest in its remaining UK sites. It plans to expand further into non-traditional sites like holiday parks and the chain said it would “announce other large retail partners in the coming months”.
>Separately, Revolution Bars has said it could put itself up for sale as part of a review of the business.
>Its announcement followed press reports that said could shut about 20 bars, or a roughly a quarter of its outlets.
>Revolution said that following a period of “external challenges” which had hit its performance it was “actively exploring all the strategic options available to it to improve the future prospects of the group”.
>This could include restructuring parts of the group or a sale of “all or part of” the group, it said.
>The chain, which has 450 restaurants plus others in service stations and holiday parks, will close 43 sites.
>The company has not said how many jobs will be affected.
I do love how we think about the word “decimate”, when it is in fact 1 in 10.
Well, if people can’t afford to pay £25 for delivered pizza, you’re going to have a real problem with profitable sites.
I’m not surprised!
There’s a Papa Johns in my town, it’s right by all of the other pizza places.
It doesn’t deliver to my house, but all of the others do!
it’s on uberEats which does do delivery to my house, but it has no deals at all on it so it charges like £25 just for a pizza, where as with Dominos or Pizza hut you’re getting full on meal deals for that prize, with one or two larger pizza with sides and deserts.
So yeah, it’s the worst out of the big 3, the most expensive, and the least convenient in my area.
doomed to fail!
Yeah, maybe the reason they’re underperforming is the shit pizza for sky-high prices. Why would I spend £22 for a chain pizza when I can get a traditional wood-fired one for significantly less at a local restaurant?
I know they differ from franchise to franchise but the papa johns near me takes over 2 hours to deliver and anytime it’s come it’s cold and soggy.
Dominoes which are next door deliver in 20 minutes for cheaper.
I used to get ‘the greek’ pizza everytime. Since COVID the ingredients and cheese has become sub standard and they’ve removed the oregano herb sprinklings too. The price has remained the same though. I’ve since moved on.
Pizza is the biggest scam going. No other fast food has such stupid, convoluted pricing that relies on “deals” to actually get a fair price for anything. £12.99 is a fair price for a large pizza so why not just sell them at that price instead of making me buy 4 of them or buy on a Monday etc
Told them replacing the default garlic dip with that generic garlic and herb shit you get at every pizza joint was a bad idea. Did they listen? No!
Life’s most important three word phrase:
Have enough cheese
Next to Coffee, Pizza has to be one of the biggest markups
When you actually make a pizza yourself and realise how simple and low cost it is, you realise how ridiculous it is to pay £20+ for one
I’m not surprised they’re under performing in this economy
Don’t get the hate for it. Usually do £10 for a large.
Makes sense. Fuck that company.
They are like domino’s price wise, full price is ludicrous but their app just has constant vouchers that you apply so you get 50% off at £30. we’d end up with 2 large pizzas, a big drink or side for £25. So their profit margins are insane if people buy them at full price.
BUT
Their customer service/complaint handling is one of the worst I have encountered, up there with Just Eat. So bad that when we had a genuine issue they treated the situation so poorly I would never use them again.
Basically it was “it’s not our fault you have dietary requirements and you can’t eat the thing that you specifically told us to not put on it. We’re keeping your money and not fixing the issue. Here’s a voucher that you have to spend a minimum of £15 to use, and here’s a link to the legalese we have in our terms and conditions which allows us to treat you like the nothing you are, valued customer”.
​
Unfortunately, as ever, the company will be a success for those at the top.
“Great business people”, they must be protected
I’ve had Papa Johns once in the last five years and it was awful. They’re struggling because it’s rubbish pizza that’s massively over priced.
I can take the family to pizza express for much better pizza at a better price and they throw some freebies in also. In fact, I WILL take the family there tonight. There, dinner sorted.
The word decimate has negative connotations that make it sound more catastrophic because it was a form of punishment during the Roman times. It basically meant 1 out of 10 soldiers in a unit would be killed as a means of punishment, hence “decimate”.
The original word has lost its meaning as our definition nowadays is to “kill, destroy, or remove a large proportion of”, which is not the case in the article, hence not correctly used.
I like Papa Johns pizza, better than the other chains IMO
Before Covid mediocre restaurant were allowed to flourish. People had excess money and low expectations.
Now the amount of free money available is a lot lower, people are spending money more selectively.
These poor quality restaurants will suffer until either the price drops or the quality improves significantly
Feel like I’m in the minority reading the comments, I love a papa johns pizza.
I almost never get takeaways though. Far too expensive for me now. But when the time comes I do check for a papa johns deal
Papa johns have been closing their shops for some time, they’ve already closed all but one of their shops near me.
The price for their pizzas is way too high. I’m surprised it’s only 1 in 10 being shut down.
I always preferred Papa Johns compared to Pizza Hut (too expensive!) and Dominos