Papa John's Opens First Restaurant in South China
LOUISVILLE, Ky.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Nov. 10, 2005--Papa John's International, Inc. (Nasdaq: PZZA) today announced the opening of its first restaurant in the south of China. The restaurant located in Schenzhen is the first of many planned Papa John's locations in the region.
"This is the forerunner to significant growth expected in the south China region for Papa John's," said Bill Van Epps, Chief Operations Officer. "We are confident that the residents of Schenzhen will embrace Papa John's commitment to quality, making our pizza a big winner for families seeking 'Better Ingredients, Better Pizza'. Asian culture expects higher quality and that is what they will get from us."
Papa John's is the second largest American pizza franchiser in China with 15 restaurants in Shanghai, five restaurants in Beijing and now a restaurant in Schenzhen. Papa John's opened its first international restaurant in Mexico City in 1998. Today, Papa John's has 415 international restaurants in 19 countries including Bahrain, China, Canada, Oman, Peru, Portugal, Russia, South Korea, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, Kuwait, Ecuador and Venezuela.
While international menus may vary based on the needs and preferences of different cultures, Papa John's core superior-quality pizza product remains the same all over the world. The crust of every Papa John's traditional pizza is made with fresh (never frozen) dough prepared with clear-filtered water. Papa John's uses only fresh-packed tomato sauce made from vine-ripened tomatoes, cheese made with 100% mozzarella and other high-quality toppings.
In the past six years, Papa John's received the highest rating among all national fast food restaurants in The American Customer Satisfaction Index survey conducted by The National Quality Research Center at the University of Michigan Business School. Papa John's has also been recognized as "Best Pizza" in more than 50 U.S. markets.
Headquartered in Louisville, Kentucky, Papa John's International, Inc. is the third largest pizza company in America. As of September 25, 2005, there were 2,894 Papa John's restaurants (572 company-owned and 2,322 franchised) operating in 49 states and 19 countries. The company is also the franchisor of 113 Perfect Pizza locations in the United Kingdom.
CONTACT: Papa John's International, Inc.
Tish Muldoon, 502-261-4987
SOURCE: Papa John's International, Inc.