TOPLINE
Pizza company Papa John’s announced Monday that it recently hired 20,000 workers and will hire 10,000 more in the next few months as demand has increased, the announcement comes at a time when 30 million Americans are unemployed as the coronavirus pandemic continues to wreak havoc on the economy.
A Papa John’s restaurant in Louisville, Kentucky photographed in 2015.
© 2015 Bloomberg Finance LP
KEY FACTS
Despite the pandemic hitting hard many restaurants, Papa John’s reported that demand increased 28% across its North American stores by the end of the second quarter, based on preliminary estimates.
Papa John’s will nearly double its workforce which stood at 16,500 employees as of Dec. 2019.
The share price increased from $94.30 at opening Monday to a high of $94.90 as of 2:30 p.m. EST; the stock price has increased by nearly 106% in the last 52 weeks.
The pizza franchise’s current market capitalization is $3.02 billion, up from $1.71 billion at the end of March.
The company reported $409.86 billion in revenue in the first quarter, up from $398.41 during the same time period last year.
Papa John’s isn’t the only pizza company to announce a hiring spree to meet increased demand; in March, Pizza Hut said it would hire 30,000 employees and Domino’s said it would hire 10,000.
key background
A majority of U.S. businesses that temporarily closed during the coronavirus shutdown have gone out of business completely, according to a Yelp report released July 22. The report found that 55% of U.S. businesses on the platform marked “temporary closed” are now “permanently closed.” Restaurants are the most-closed businesses with 26,160 closures nationwide.
tangent
A July 2018 Forbes investigation based on interviews with 37 current and former Papa John’s employees—including numerous executives and board members—revealed a toxic culture starting with its founder, John Schnatter. His alleged behavior ranged from spying on his workers to sexually inappropriate conduct, which resulted in at least two confidential settlements. He had resigned as chairman earlier that month after Forbes reported that he used the N-word and made other controversial remarks during a media-training exercise in May.
further reading
Papa John’s Looks to Hire 10,000 More Team Members As The Pandemic Continues (Press Release)
More Than Half Of Temporary Business Closures Now Permanent On Yelp (Forbes)
Papa John’s Founder Used N-Word On Conference Call (Forbes)
The Inside Story Of Papa John’s Toxic Culture (Forbes)
Tensions High At Papa John’s, Even With Founder Gone (Forbes)