Although pizza originated in Italy, the U.S. has come into its own, popularizing iconic regional styles like Chicago’s deep-dish pizza, New York’s thin crust, and Detroit’s pizza. Over time, pizza has become such a defining American staple that the world’s largest pizza chains are now predominantly based in the US.
As of 2025, the top domestic pizza chains by total number of locations include Hunt Brothers Pizza, Domino’s Pizza (DPZ), Yum! Brands’ Pizza Hut (YUM), Papa Johns and Marco’s Pizza, according to ScrapeHero.
Papa Johns has been a major player in the industry for more than four decades, but amid intensifying competition, even legacy brands are facing struggles. In the third quarter of 2025, North American comparable sales fell 3% year-over-year, continuing an almost uninterrupted downward trend in its US market.
This decline has prompted the company to make a significant change in its restaurant portfolio that could reshape its entire business for years to come.
Papa Johns ( PZZA ) has sold 85 restaurants in Washington, DC and Baltimore, Maryland to Pie Investments Management, led by Chris Patel, making the group one of the largest pizza chain franchisees in the US.
With this acquisition, Pie Investments now operates more than 150 Papa Johns restaurants nationwide. The group plans to open 52 additional locations in the Philadelphia market over the next five years, with a goal of reaching 250 locations by 2030.
The restaurants were previously owned by Colonel’s Limited, LLC, a joint venture between Papa Johns and Steeplechase Express, Inc. The group, led by the company’s longest-serving franchisee William Freitas, who is now retiring, opened its first Papa Johns restaurant in 1993 and became an early adopter of digital channels, helping to position the brand as one of the first major online pizza chains.
“Chris has built a team of leaders who are passionate about pizza, and his impressive track record of acquiring restaurants and improving their profitability is well known throughout the Papa Johns system,” Papa Johns CFO and President of North America Ravi Thanawala said in a press release.
Papa Johns is refranchising 85 restaurants to fuel profitable growth.Shutterstock” loading=”eager” height=”540″ width=”960″ class=”yf-1gfnohs loader”/>
Papa Johns is refranchising 85 restaurants to fuel profitable growth.Shutterstock
This latest sale is part of a larger refranchising initiative. During its fiscal 2025 third-quarter earnings call, Papa Johns said it plans to reduce company-owned restaurants in North America to a single-digit percentage of its nearly 6,000 global locations.
Over the next two years, Papa Johns plans to accelerate its internal refranchising efforts to drive profitable growth and expand into high-demand markets to improve the long-term economic model of its restaurants.
“We are navigating a challenging consumer and competitive environment and executing on a strategy to ensure Papa Johns delivers sustainable and profitable growth,” CEO Todd Penegor said in the earnings call. “While the full benefits will take some time, our transformation strategy is yielding positive results and we are taking far-reaching actions to accelerate the progress we are making.”
However, franchising comes with risks.
“Labor experts say franchised chains have higher rates of violations than corporate-run chains because they are less invested in preserving a brand’s reputation,” Lauren Kaori Gurley and Emmanuel Martinez wrote for The Washington Post. “They are also under pressure to keep labor costs low to offset high operating costs, particularly franchise fees.”
More news about the restaurant:
As of September 28, 2025, Papa Johns operates 5,994 restaurants in 51 countries and territories. Of the 3,517 units in North America, 2,976 are franchised.
However, the company’s restructuring resulted in the closure of 28 North American franchise locations during the same time period.
“Growth in the pizzeria space increasingly depends on how well brands balance consistency with innovation,” Restoworks said. “It’s no longer enough to dominate on footprint or price; winning operators are those who align formats with local markets, experiment with flavors to suit emerging tastes and invest in technology.”
Last year, Papa Johns said it was acting “urgently” to improve operations after several quarters of declining performance, highlighting five key elements to accelerate profitable growth.
“We are actively looking at the right level of ownership of the company, what is the role of refranchising, and how does that help drive even more growth in our system as we grow growth-minded franchisees and bring new people into the system to ensure we have some new franchisees who want to be a part of the Papa Johns journey going forward,” Third-quartering Penegor said in a statement. call
Despite those efforts, Papa John’s stock has fallen more than 16.5% over the past year.
Meanwhile, rumors have circulated since 2024 that Papa Johns could be acquired by private equity firms, including Apollo Global Management (as reported by Reuters), TriArtisan Capital and Irth Capital Management. Although no formal agreement has been reached, a sale would take the company private for the first time since 1993.
“Bear analysts are concerned that ongoing buyout rumors have shifted focus away from business fundamentals and performance metrics,” Simply Wall Street analysts said. “Uncertainty regarding the completion of a formal offer and potential changes in the terms of the transaction could introduce share price volatility and downside risk.”
Related: 100-year-old grocery chain’s stores acquired by rival after closings
This story was originally published by TheStreet on December 2, 2025, where it first appeared in the Restaurants section. Add TheStreet as a favorite source by clicking here.
