Penegor Leads Papa John’s Revival

Papa John’s International stepped onto a sharper, more intentional path when it named Todd Penegor as President and Chief Executive Officer, effective August 1, 2024. He arrives with a board seat and a mandate to rekindle growth in a crowded quick-service pizza landscape. The change follows a period of leadership turnover, and the board’s decision signals a deliberate pivot toward execution discipline, brand refresh, and digital momentum. The move aligns with a multi-pronged revival strategy that blends brand storytelling with operational precision and a sharpened focus on franchise performance. As the company charts its next chapter, Penegor’s arrival is both a reset and a promise: a thoughtful recalibration that nourishes the brand’s core while reaching new customers. Where does this new leadership lead the brand next?

Shortly before Penegor’s appointment, Papa John’s unveiled a new brand platform, Better Get You Some, designed to sharpen the pizza-superiority claim that sits beside the longstanding Better Ingredients. Better Pizza. promise. The bold creative direction, multi-channel storytelling, and a soundtrack by Big Boi signal a modern, consumer-first approach developed with The Martin Agency. The campaign aims to expand reach, deepen engagement, and invite diners to a pizza-matizing journey that differentiates Papa John’s in a crowded market. This brand evolution runs in parallel with Back to Better 2.0, a plan to optimize audience segmentation, loyalty, and marketing ROI as growth levers. How these threads weave together will shape the brand’s pull in 2025 and beyond.

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From his rise as a Kellogg leader to serving as Wendy’s CEO and CFO, Todd Penegor has spent more than two decades shaping brands with scalable franchised models. He led Wendy’s from 2016 to 2024, steering global expansion to more than 7,000 restaurants and delivering 12 straight years of same-store sales growth. A breakthrough moment came with the 2019 breakfast daypart launch, which analysts have credited with lifting store-level performance and, in some estimates, contributing meaningful weekly sales growth per location. Earlier in his career he spent 13 years at Kellogg and time at Ford, experiences that sharpened his view of growth with capital discipline.

Chairman Christopher Coleman described Penegor as someone with an outstanding record of leading winning teams and scaling franchised operations globally through trusted partnerships, product innovation, and digital transformation, with a proven ability to allocate capital to drive value and profitability.

The move to Penegor sits within a broader strategy to refresh brand and accelerate growth. On April 2, 2024, the company unveiled a new brand platform, Better Get You Some, designed to sharpen the pizza-superiority claim that sits beside the longstanding Better Ingredients. Better Pizza. promise. The bold creative direction, multi-channel storytelling, and a soundtrack by Big Boi signal a modern, consumer-first approach developed with The Martin Agency. The campaign aims to expand reach, deepen engagement, and invite diners to a pizza-matizing journey that differentiates Papa John’s in a crowded market. This brand evolution runs in parallel with Back to Better 2.0, a plan to optimize audience segmentation, loyalty, and marketing ROI as growth levers.

Developed with The Martin Agency and a modernizing soundtrack, the platform is designed to carry fans on a pizza-matizing journey and to differentiate the brand through a bold, contemporary voice. The initiative sits alongside Back to Better 2.0, which targets audience segmentation and ROI-driven marketing to unlock sustainable growth. In short, the plan is to turn brand storytelling into measurable, profitable outcomes while keeping the core promise intact.

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The leadership transition was framed as a strategic inflection point. Christopher Coleman, chair of the Papa John’s board, noted that Penegor brings an outstanding record of leading winning teams and scaling franchised operations globally through trusted partnerships, product innovation and digital transformation, along with an ability to allocate capital effectively, drive value, and enhance profitability.

In accepting the role, Penegor said, “I am honored to serve as Chief Executive Officer of Papa Johns and work with the Board, our dedicated team members and franchisees to usher in the Company’s next chapter.” He added that staying true to the Better Ingredients. Better Pizza. promise means delivering exceptional customer experiences across all touchpoints and unlocking the brand’s differentiated market position.

Papa John’s has faced a challenging revenue environment in the recent period, with first-quarter 2024 results showing a decline in North America comparable sales and overall revenue. The company reported total revenues of $513.9 million for the quarter ended March 31, 2024, a 2.5% decrease year over year, with North America comparable sales down 2.0% and lower transaction volumes contributing to the shortfall. Management attributed the performance to changes in consumer behavior and ongoing execution of transformation initiatives, including the international business and cost discipline. The report also highlighted ongoing work under the Back to Better 2.0 and International Transformation initiatives, with emphasis on restaurant operations, digital solutions, and marketing platforms as drivers of sustainable, profitable growth.

The results set the context for Penegor’s arrival as the company sought to accelerate progress against its strategic plan, with leadership signaling a more aggressive push to refresh the brand and optimize the network.

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Across the broader quick-service restaurant sector, volatility and recalibration have become the norm. In early 2026, Papa John’s publicly signaled a more aggressive repositioning by outlining a plan to close hundreds of underperforming restaurants across North America, a move described by CFO Ravi Thanawala as a way to transfer sales to nearby locations and improve brand health. Media coverage tracked a target of up to 300 closures by the end of 2027, a pattern seen across chains pursuing profitability in a price-conscious landscape. While near-term disruption is real, proponents say the actions can strengthen the core network and improve economics over time.

For Penegor, the question is how to translate brand investments into sustainable gains. The plan blends disciplined capital allocation with revenue management, loyalty enhancements, and wider media outreach, all aimed at a more predictable path to same-store growth and profitability. The execution will hinge on aligning franchised operations with the company’s longer-term targets while keeping a thoughtful, nourishing focus on customers, partners, and the planet’s resources.