Franchise Focus
An entrepreneur with a background in finance leveraged his enterprise acumen and a eager eye for alternative to develop his Papa Johns franchise from 4 to 70 shops by buying uncared for areas and turning them into worthwhile items.
Picture: Papa Johns
August 7, 2025 by Mandy Wolf Detwiler — Editor, Networld Media Group
Since his highschool days, when he was dreaming of changing into an entrepreneur as a substitute of an engineer or a physician, Chris Patel has been centered on one factor: the short service restaurant area. After incomes his bachelor’s and grasp’s levels in finance, he turned a Papa Johns franchisee in 2020 by buying 4 shops. In lower than 5 years, he has grown his enterprise to 70 areas throughout 4 states by buying uncared for shops and revitalizing them by means of sturdy management, strategic pricing, and a renewed concentrate on customer support.
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Chris Patel. Picture: Papa Johns |
Throughout the first two years alone, Patel had grown to 10 Papa Johns’ shops.
“In October of 2022, I feel we scaled our operations and group in a manner the place we really concentrate on a sturdy progress acquisition, and that is after we ran out and began buying bigger networks and in addition constructing shops after,” Patel mentioned in a cellphone interview with Pizza Market. “That is helped us develop within the final three years.”
Patel mentioned he had been trying on the pizza phase as an entire earlier than becoming a member of Papa Johns. He checked out different aggressive manufacturers, however Papa Johns was a fan favourite for him as a buyer. He mentioned for him, it was discovering a model that had the best product, premium elements and never simply being the bottom priced pizza.
“We noticed tons of progress alternatives in Papa Johns by means of growth previous to getting in,” Patel mentioned. “It had the correct product, and the model had the market enchantment.” He added that the market had a whole lot of single-unit franchisees that weren’t unifying the market.
Operations
Right this moment, Patel runs 70 Papa Johns shops. His items are in New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware and Maryland. When trying to find shops to amass, he seems for the upside of areas and research their earnings and losses.
“Every scenario was a distinct stage of neglect by their house owners, and for me, that was the chance as to how I may step into these roles and fulfill the neglect (house owners) had induced their companies through the years,” Patel mentioned. For instance, in a single unit scenario, there was no GM. The proprietor was enjoying GM himself and would work seven days per week with minimal quantity of help employees, as the present staff had been solely frightened about making wage and getting by with the enterprise.
When Patel took over, he recruited a normal supervisor and a advertising specialist. He put collectively the structured staff required to run a Papa Johns unit. “That was a simple repair, and that is what we focused,” Patel added. With the span of some months, gross sales grew.
“The important thing focus factors had been how do I’m going in and enhance prior house owners’ abuse when it comes to including the best assets, reworking the asset, simply creating a greater working atmosphere and a greater buyer atmosphere after they come to our location,” Patel mentioned.
Patel had a sturdy acquisition pipeline from 2022 to 2024 as he had bought 44 items. He mentioned that’s from the place most of his aggressive progress got here.
The sheer neglect of many of those shops was each stunning and difficult for Patel and his staff. These house owners would elevate costs till it made sense for the shops however not for the shoppers. Patel reversed the pricing construction which was extra aggressive and supplied extra worth for the client – in brief, he was rising gross sales by means of transactions and never tickets, which was the prior house owners’ mentality.
Altering the mindset for the staff within the shops and the shoppers who frequented them was vital to success.
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Picture: Papa Johns |
Hiring and retention
Patel mentioned he focuses on creating an incentive program for normal managers and retaining staff by means of acquisition. That took coaching and mentoring to undo the years of neglect seen by earlier house owners.
“On the finish of the day, your individuals simply wish to be heard,” Patel added. “For us, we’re tremendous concerned. We’re within the shops ourselves and that performs a key function that the staff can see the possession firsthand. They’ve possession firsthand, and I feel that type of created a stage of tradition within the firm.”
Right this moment, staff take satisfaction of their areas as a result of they perceive the corporate tradition and what Patel and his staff stand for. A lot of the recruitment comes from referrals.
Challenges
Rising meals prices have been difficult for Patel and his staff. “Within the present aggressive area, we’re seeing tons of our fellow friends bringing the worth up and it is simply type of discovering the best stability to getting in entrance of the patron and being that true worth participant.
“For us, presently on this atmosphere that is one line merchandise that we’re seeing and type of struggling – our customers are struggling for money,” Patel added. “How can we as a franchisee in a time like this be the innovator within the worth area?”
Patel mentioned they’re experimenting with buyer appreciation days the place prospects get medium pizzas for $3.99.
Expertise
Patel mentioned within the final 12 months, Papa Johns’ know-how division has reinvented itself.
There have been a number of optimistic updates to the app. The e-mail advertising program has been revamped, and the model has invested in instruments to assist its franchisees attain its prospects.
“From a tech facet I feel the model has completed an exceptional job of rising all of the assets we have to attain our prospects, and I feel on the finish of the day, that is a very powerful device a franchisee may have readily available,” Patel added.
Banking on the longer term
Patel mentioned he’ll proceed to progress by means of acquisitions, and he additionally has an settlement with the model to construct 50 areas within the subsequent 5 years in his present markets.
“We see sufficient progress that we are going to double or triple our dimension within the subsequent 5 years,” Patel mentioned. “On the finish of the day, so long as it is a high quality product and a top quality model, you are on a path of success.”
About Mandy Wolf Detwiler
Mandy Wolf Detwiler is the managing editor at Networld Media Group and the positioning editor for PizzaMarketplace.com and QSRweb.com. She has greater than 20 years’ expertise masking meals, individuals and locations.
An award-winning print journalist, Mandy brings greater than 20 years’ expertise to Networld Media Group. She has spent almost twenty years masking the pizza business, from unbiased pizzerias to multi-unit chains and each dimension enterprise in between. Mandy has been featured on the Meals Community and has received quite a few awards for her protection of the restaurant business. She has an insatiable urge for food for studying, and might inform you the place to seek out one of the best slices within the nation after spending 15 years touring and consuming pizza for a residing.
