Papa John's Names International Franchise Operator of the Year; Franchise Group from South Korea Earns Top Honors
"With our company focusing heavily on international growth and development, it is extremely important to highlight the accomplishments of our outstanding international operators," said Grant Miller, Managing Director of International for Papa John's. "The PJI Korea team is an excellent role model not only for our international franchise community, but for the entire Papa John's system."
For the second consecutive year, Papa John's recognized franchisee Chang-Woo Soh and his operating partner, James Cho as Papa John's International Franchise Operator of the Year. With three international franchise groups nominated for this prestigious award, the recognition was given to PJI Korea Co., LTD. because of their commitment to producing superior-quality pizza, world-class customer service and good community citizenship.
PJI Korea Co., LTD. owns and operates 21 restaurants in the South Korea market. The franchise has been in the Papa John's system since July 15, 2003 when they opened two restaurants in the new market on the same day. Cho and his team of restaurant operators are committed to building the Papa John's brand through "Better Ingredients. Better Pizza." This team is dedicated to providing a better product and developing a better team than the competition as well as providing a better customer experience.
Cho believes, "what gets measured gets done." He measures quality and customer experiences with mystery shopping programs in all his restaurants twice a month, daily customer callbacks and monthly Quality Control Center audits.
About Papa John's:
Celebrating its 21st anniversary, Papa John's remains focused on using the highest quality ingredients to make its customers a superior-quality pizza. Papa John's makes the crust of every traditional pizza with fresh dough (never frozen) prepared with clear-filtered water in the company's regional quality control centers. Papa John's uses only fresh-packed tomato sauce made from vine-ripened tomatoes, which go from the vine to the can in an average of six hours; cheese made with 100% mozzarella; and other high quality toppings.
In the five most recent surveys (1999-2003, as published in The Wall Street Journal), Papa John's received the highest ratings 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 was rated above the national average for all industries and ranked the highest in the retail sector. Papa John's also continues to receive local market Best Pizza wins in various cities across the country.
Headquartered in Louisville, Kentucky, Papa John's International, Inc. (Nasdaq: PZZA) is the third largest pizza company in America. As of April 24, 2005, Papa John's had 2,849 restaurants (571 company-owned and 2,278 franchised) operating in 49 states and 18 countries. Papa John's also franchises an additional 116 Perfect Pizza restaurants in the United Kingdom. For more information about the company and to order pizza online, please visit www.papajohns.com.
CONTACT: Papa John's International, Louisville
Chris Sternberg, 502-261-4934
SOURCE: Papa John's International