Papa John's Announces May Comparable Sales Results
Both the May 2003 and May 2004 periods featured system-wide promotions supported by national television advertising. The company believes the outperformance in comparable sales results by company-owned versus franchised restaurants over the last several reporting periods is likely attributable to differing levels of operational and promotional execution.
"Since the fourth quarter of 2003, comparable sales results at company-owned units have exceeded franchise restaurants on average by 1 - 3%," said Papa John's Chief Operations Officer, Bill Van Epps. "We are working with our franchisees to help them focus on improving operational and promotional execution at their restaurants. We are hopeful these efforts will go a long way toward closing this performance gap."
Total system-wide international sales for the four weeks ended May 23, 2004 decreased 0.7%, on a constant U.S. dollar basis, over the comparable period last year.
At May 23, 2004, there were 2,766 Papa John's restaurants (568 company-owned and 2,198 franchised) operating in 49 states and 16 international markets. Papa John's also franchises 126 Perfect Pizza restaurants in the United Kingdom. For more information about the company, visit Papa John's at http://www.papajohns.com.
CONTACT: Papa John's International, Inc.
David Flanery, 502-261-4753
SOURCE: Papa John's International, Inc.