Papa John’s Papa John’s main issue is that growth has stagnated since 2001 and more recently since the financial crash of 2007. Stated multiple times throughout the case, the desire is to have growth that allows for the addition of 200 to 300 stores per year.
To accomplish this goal and counter the lack of growth, Papa John’s needs to diversify. Opening 200-300 Pizza locations may not be feasible. The pizza market is a mature saturated market. It’s well established. There are few if any barriers to entry. There is very little differentiation possible within the market. If Papa John’s wants to establish long term growth they need to branch out into similar market spaces as their competitors and other market leaders have. Expanding into a related market as suggested in the case will give them room to grow without diminishing the Papa John’s brand. Papa John’s is very successful in the fast food pizza space and it would be very challenging for them to increase growth without compromising their core values. Papa John’s could potentially acquire an existing business in a related space (i.e. Fast Casual Mexican) and begin to grow that business using it’s industry knowledge and the Core values of Papa John’s to bring a new competitor to a young market. My recommendation also is based on the idea of increasing growth domestically instead of trying to depend on international growth. This is because the international markets are not the same and require a different business