As of 2023[update], it is the fourth largest pizza delivery restaurant chain in the United States,[6] with headquarters in the Louisville, Kentucky and Atlanta, Georgia metropolitan areas.
Papa John's global presence has reached over 5,500 locations in 49 countries and territories, and is the world's third-largest pizza delivery company.
[12] The first notable Bitcoin retail transaction involving physical goods was paid on May 22, 2010, by exchanging 10,000 mined BTC for two pizzas delivered from a Papa John's on Atlantic Boulevard in Jacksonville, Florida.
[17] After the incident, Ritchie apologized in an open letter, and ordered the company's workforce to undergo bias and diversity training.
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.
[25] 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.
[27] In March 2019, NBA Hall of Famer Shaquille O'Neal joined Papa John's board of directors and became a spokesman for the brand.
[31] 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 Schnatter to succeed him in 2018.
[33][34] The existing headquarters in Jeffersontown, Kentucky, a community within the merged government of Louisville, was retained, and houses the IT, supply chain, and legal departments.
[35][36][37][38][39] In November 2021, Papa John's announced it was rebranding its logo (by removing the apostrophe and simplifying the design) and store locations.
[40] 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.
[42] Papa John's primarily takes carryout and delivery orders, although some restaurants have tables and chairs for dining in.
[62] Papa John's also operated in Russia and Belarus with plans to expand to several other European and Central Asian countries.
[67] After a failed step in the early 2000s, in 2019 Papa John's returned to Portugal with a restaurant in Lisbon and plans to expand to other parts of the country.
[77] Papa John's is also the official pizza supplier of the Olympic Speedskating Oval in Calgary, Alberta, Canada.
[78] In 2010, Papa John's signed an agreement to be the Official Pizza Sponsor of the National Football League and Super Bowls XLV, XLVI and XLVII.
[83] In 2020, Papa John's became the main sponsor of the EFL Trophy, a football competition for lower league and under-23 clubs in England.
[86] To apologize, Papa John's offered large single-topping pizzas for 23 cents (matching James' jersey number) at all locations in Greater Cleveland and throughout northern Ohio.
The chain sold over 172,000 pizzas at 23 cents a piece, with customers waiting in lines outside of some stores for as long as three hours.
[87] Papa John's also received media attention on January 6, 2012, when an employee typed the phrase "lady chinky eyes" on a receipt issued to an Asian American customer at a restaurant in New York City.
[89] A manager at the restaurant where the incident occurred told the New York Post that the cashier, a teenager, did not intend to offend saying, "It's a busy place, and it was a way to identify her and her order.
[93] Papa John's disavowed statements by white supremacist groups expressing support for the brand in the wake of Schnatter's comments.
[95] The same day, Schnatter admitted to using the racial epithet during the conference call and resigned as chairman of the company's board of directors.
[100] In August 2015, Papa John's agreed to pay $12.3 million to settle a class-action lawsuit in which the company was accused of undercompensating 19,000 delivery drivers in the states of Arizona, Florida, Illinois, Maryland, Missouri and North Carolina.
[101] In July 2016, Panera Bread filed a lawsuit with the U.S. Eastern District Court in Missouri accusing Papa John's of stealing digital trade secrets and proprietary data management strategies by hiring Michael Nettles, a former Panera executive who was in charge of the chain's corporate digital technologies deployment.
[102] In August, a Federal judge issued a restraining order, preventing Nettles from reporting to work at Papa John's while the case was active.