Papa John's Promotes Steve Ritchie to CEO
Ritchie goes from hourly team member to franchisee to CEO in 21 years
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Papa John's Promotes Steve Ritchie to CEO (Photo: Business Wire)
"I am so proud of Steve - he has excelled at every job he's ever held at
Papa John's - from being an hourly customer service rep, to a delivery
driver, store general manager, director of operations, franchisee and
most recently President," said Papa John's founder,
As Chief Executive Officer,
"I am humbled to take on this role," said Ritchie. "By focusing on our team members, we will deliver the world class experiences our customers deserve. At Papa John's, any opportunity is achievable if you dedicate yourself to putting your best foot forward every day. I'm certain our future company leaders are delivering pizzas in one of our 5,000 stores around the world right now."
At Papa John's, 98% of restaurant managers are promoted from hourly positions - delivery drivers, customer service team members and shift managers - within the company.
In his duties as Chairman and founder, Schnatter will continue to champion the core principles that led to recognition as the industry leader in product quality and customer satisfaction. He will also pursue his personal passion for entrepreneurship, leadership development and education.
About Papa John's
Headquartered in
Forward-Looking Statements
Certain matters discussed in this press release constitute
forward-looking statements within the meaning of the federal securities
laws. Generally, the use of words such as "expect," "intend,"
"estimate," "believe," "anticipate," "will," "forecast," "plan,"
"project," or similar words identify forward-looking statements that we
intend to be included within the safe harbor protections provided by the
federal securities laws. Such forward-looking statements may relate to
projections or predictions concerning business performance, future
strategy and prospects, the performance of the Papa John's brand,
customer experience, as well as business and financial performance,
including revenue, earnings, cash flow, and other financial and
operational measures. Such statements are not guarantees of future
performance and involve certain risks, uncertainties and assumptions,
which are difficult to predict and many of which are beyond our control.
Therefore, actual outcomes and our results may differ materially from
those matters expressed or implied in such forward-looking statements.
The risks, uncertainties and assumptions that are involved in our
forward-looking statements include, but are not limited to: the
successful navigation of the brand's marketing and digital evolution,
the performance of our new senior leadership, aggressive changes in
pricing or other marketing or promotional strategies by competitors,
which may adversely affect sales and profitability; and new product and
concept developments by food industry competitors; changes in consumer
preferences or consumer buying habits, including changes in general
economic conditions or other factors that may affect consumer confidence
and discretionary spending; changes in our liquidity or changes in the
debt markets in general, including adverse changes in interest rates,
and our ability to meet debt service requirements; the adverse impact on
the company or our results caused by product recalls, food quality or
safety issues, incidences of foodborne illness, food contamination and
other general public health concerns about our company-owned or
franchised restaurants or others in the restaurant industry; failure to
maintain our brand strength, quality reputation and consumer enthusiasm
for our better ingredients marketing and advertising strategy; the
ability of the company and its franchisees to meet planned growth
targets and operate new and existing restaurants profitably, including
difficulties finding qualified franchisees, store level employees or
suitable sites; increases in food costs or sustained higher other
operating costs. This could include increased employee compensation,
benefits, insurance, tax rates, new regulatory requirements or
increasing compliance costs; increases in insurance claims and related
costs for programs funded by the company up to certain retention limits,
including medical, owned and non-owned automobiles, workers'
compensation, general liability and property; disruption of our supply
chain or commissary operations which could be caused by our sole source
of supply of cheese or limited source of suppliers for other key
ingredients or more generally due to weather, natural disasters
including drought, disease, or geopolitical or other disruptions beyond
our control; increased risks associated with our international
operations, including economic and political conditions, instability or
uncertainty in our international markets, especially emerging markets,
fluctuations in currency exchange rates, difficulty in meeting planned
sales targets and new store growth; the impact of current or future
claims and litigation, including labor and employment-related claims;
current, proposed or future legislation that could impact our business;
failure to effectively execute succession planning; disruption of
critical business or information technology systems, or those of our
suppliers, and risks associated with systems failures and data privacy
and security breaches, including theft of confidential company, employee
and customer information, including payment cards; and changes in GAAP,
including new standards for accounting for share-based compensation that
may result in changes to our net income. These and other risk factors
are discussed in detail in "Part I. Item 1A. - Risk Factors" in our
Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended
View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20171221005983/en/
Papa John's
Senior
Director, Public Relations
peter_collins@papajohns.com
Source:
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