Papa John's Pizza

1984–2009

The Papa John's restaurant was founded in 1984 when "Papa" John Schnatter installed an oven inside a broom closet in the back of his father's tavern, Mick's Lounge, in Jeffersonville, Indiana. He then sold his 1971 Camaro Z28 to purchase US$1,600 worth of used pizza equipment and began selling pizzas to the tavern's customers out of the converted closet. His pizzas proved sufficiently popular that a year later he moved into an adjoining space. Dipping sauce specifically for pizza was invented by Papa John's Pizza that same year, and has since become popular when eating pizza, especially the crust. The company went public in 1993. A year later it had 500 stores, and by 1997 it had opened 1,500 stores. In 2009, Schnatter bought the Camaro back after offering a reward of $250,000 for the car.

2010s

On May 22, 2010, the first ever Bitcoin transaction was made between Laszlo Hanyecz and Jeremy Sturdivant. The swap involved an agreement to trade 10,000 bitcoins for two large Papa John's pizzas. The day is now celebrated annually by bitcoin enthusiasts as "Bitcoin Pizza Day", on May 22.On January 1, 2018, John Schnatter stepped down as CEO of Papa John's Pizza in favor of company President Steve Ritchie; Schnatter remained chairman. In February 2018, Papa John's and the NFL ended their sponsorship agreement after Schnatter's criticism of the NFL made headlines.On July 11, 2018, news outlets reported that during a conference call with the marketing agency Laundry Service that was working under contract for Papa John's, Schnatter had used the word "nigger" by saying "Colonel Sanders called blacks niggers and Sanders never faced public backlash." Schnatter said that referencing the quote by the KFC founder was meant to convey his dislike for racism. After the call, the owner of the marketing agency moved to end their contract with Papa John's. Schnatter resigned as chairman of the board on the day the incident was reported.After the incident, Ritchie apologized in an open letter, and ordered the company's workforce to undergo bias and diversity training.On July 26, 2018, John Schnatter filed a lawsuit against Papa John's Pizza to give him access to the company's internal books and records after they fired him from the company after the teleconference call scandal. He describes the company's procedures as an "unexplained and heavy-handed way" to cut ties between him and the company that he founded. In addition to preventing him from accessing information, the corporation also implemented a poison pill strategy in order to limit Schnatter's chances of buying back a majority stake in the company.On February 4, 2019, it was announced that the activist hedge fund Starboard Value, which had played a large role in turning around the troubled Olive Garden restaurant chain, would be investing $200 million into Papa John's Pizza and that Starboard could possibly invest an additional $50 million by March 29, 2019. It was simultaneously announced that Starboard Value CEO Jeff Smith would become the new Papa John's chairman and that Anthony Sanfilippo, former CEO of the gaming company Pinnacle Entertainment, would be another addition to the company's board. Following that announcement, Ritchie said that he hoped the deal would put an end to the ongoing feud with Schnatter, telling CNBC's David Faber, "Obviously, we're very hopeful that we can bring John along." However, Schnatter has expressed concerns that Ritchie is not the right executive for Papa John's.On March 5, 2019, Papa John's announced a settlement with Schnatter under which he will resign from the company's board of directors at the company's annual meeting on April 30 or when a mutually acceptable independent director is appointed to replace him, whichever comes first. Schnatter agreed to dismiss two lawsuits filed against the company and to withdraw his plan to run for a seat on the board at the annual meeting. Papa John's agreed to remove the "acting in concert" provisions from its "poison pill" plan that prevented Schnatter from communicating with other company shareholders. Schnatter, who then still controlled 31% of Papa John's shares, issued a statement saying he was "thankful that I've been able to resolve these important issues" and hoped everyone could now "focus on the company's business without the need for additional litigation". The company also agreed to remove a requirement that Starboard Value, which owns about 10% of the company, must vote in favor of the incumbent board.In March 2019, NBA Hall of Famer Shaquille O'Neal joined Papa John's board of directors and became a spokesman for the brand. The next year, Papa John's introduced the Shaq-a-Roni, a pizza dedicated to O'Neal.

Amidst these changes, in May 2019, Schnatter began selling off his shares in the company. Initially starting with 9.8 million shares. Throughout the next year, he had reduced his stock ownership to just 4%.On August 27, 2019, Papa John's announced that Arby's President Robert M. Lynch would be the new CEO replacing Steve Ritchie, who was handpicked by founder John Schnatter to succeed him in 2018.

2020s

In September 2020, Papa John's announced plans to establish a new headquarters in the Atlanta metropolitan area. In November, the company announced its new global headquarters would be located in Three Ballpark Center at The Battery Atlanta. The existing headquarters in Jeffersontown, Kentucky, a community within the merged government of Louisville, was retained, and currently houses the IT, supply chain, and legal departments.In November 2021, Papa John's announced it was rebranding its logo and store locations.In March 2022, Papa John's suspended its business operations in Russia in response to the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine, but independent franchisee-owned locations remained open.