New Applications, Start Page Modules and Embeddable Widgets Deliver Specials and Favorites Right to Desktop

LOUISVILLE, Ky., May 19, 2008 (BUSINESS WIRE) — In its continuous quest to be the technology leader among the nation’s pizza companies - first introducing system wide online ordering in 2001 and then text message ordering in 2007 - Papa John’s (NASDAQ: PZZA) has now launched ‘myPapa(SM’), a unique set of widgets that streams exclusive product discounts, personalized Favorites, and incentives to customers’ desktops. The suite of widgets can also be embedded on favorite personalized startpages and available right where consumers log on to receive up-to-date information.
Downloadable at www.papajohns.com, myPapa users now have access to a number of features not available through Papa John’s traditional online and e-mail channels.

Every day, myPapa customers will receive as many as 12 custom discounts and product offers, accessible by simply clicking on the myPapa widget installed on their computer desktop. These discounts and online coupons will be restaurant-specific and streaming 24-hours a day.

“MyPapa will offer deals that are relevant to each individual customer and will be accessible the minute hunger strikes. No sifting through e-mails, newspaper coupons, or online offers necessary - it’s all right there on your desktop, start page, social network page or blog,” said Jim Ensign, vice president of marketing communications for Papa John’s International, Inc. “Does your family order the same two pizzas every week? Then you will love the convenience of ordering a Favorite with a click. Or are you always the first to try Papa John’s new specialty pizzas and side items? Then you’ll be the first to hear about new additions made to our menu.”

According to eMarketer, widgets are implemented by many of the 69 million adults and 15 million teens who will use social network sites in 2008. That represents 43.5% of adults and 77% of the teen Internet population.

With just a click of the mouse, customers can select the Papa John’s pizza box icon displayed on their desktop to access discount offers and place an order. As with www.papajohns.com, advance online ordering is also accessible via myPapa - letting customers place their order up to 21 days in advance of their preferred delivery or pick-up date and time. In addition, myPapa provides direct access to the Papa John’s menu and nutritional information, restaurant locator, and catering menu, and even allows pizza lovers to send Papa John’s gift cards.

“Having recently surpassed the $1 billion mark in online sales, we strive to continue offering digital innovations that make our customers’ lives easier,” said Ensign. “MyPapa is our latest convenience innovation for customers - a convenient and non-intrusive application that allows for quick and easy ordering, tailored to each individual’s preference.”

To download the myPapa application and experience the latest revolution in pizza ordering, visit www.papajohns.com/widgets.

Headquartered in Louisville, Kentucky, Papa John’s International, Inc. (NASDAQ: PZZA) is the world’s third largest pizza company. For eight years running, consumers have rated Papa John’s No. 1 in customer satisfaction among all national pizza chains in the highly regarded American Customer Satisfaction Index (ACSI). Papa John’s also ranks first among pizza companies in the 2008 Brand Keys Customer Loyalty Engagement Index and was named 2007 Pizza Today Chain of the Year. For more information about the company or to order pizza online, visit Papa John’s at www.papajohns.com.

SOURCE: Papa John’s International, Inc.

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Papa John’s dominates Internet sales of the $36B-a-year industry while Domino’s, others test it out.

For Mike Santonocito, ordering pizza at Michigan State University was as simple as: Point. Click. Pizza. “Online ordering is more convenient,” said Santonocito, now a law student at DePaul University in Chicago. “It’s just popping into the computer, clicking the mouse a few times and the pizza shows up.”

More and more pizza customers in Metro Detroit and across the country are turning to the Internet for home delivery.

Papa John’s is leading the way in online ordering in the $36-billion-a-year pizza industry, with others such as Ann Arbor-based Domino’s Pizza testing the waters. Experts predict that all major chains will offer the option within five years.

About 2.8 percent, or 84 million, of the 3 billion annual pizza orders are placed online, said Jeremy White, editor of Pizza Today, a trade publication. Five years ago, it was only 0.008 percent or 24 million Internet orders.

Online ordering offers advantages: It’s quicker, less prone to errors, provides an up-to-date menu and prices and cashless transactions. It’s just a matter of a few clicks of the mouse and entering your address and credit card number (you can even include the driver’s tip).

“The pizza industry has proven the Internet works well for some,” said Steve Coomes, a former senior editor for PizzaMarketplace.com. “They can’t ignore it or they risk losing customers to other pizza outlets that have it. It’s a highly competitive market that nobody wants to give up even a small percentage of their sales.”

He predicts online ordering will never replace the phone; it’s just another way to connect with the local pizza shop.

Papa John’s is the only chain with online ordering nationwide, including at its 43 Michigan stores.

“The Internet is where most customers live today,” said Chris Sternberg, Papa John’s senior vice president of corporate communications. “Consequently, we want to make it easy for those customers to order out food. There are advantages to the Internet.”

The Louisville, Ky.-based company, which has 2,600 stores nationwide, began offering the service in 2001. Since then, the company has taken more than 25 million online pizza orders. Online ordering has increased by at least 50 percent each of the last few years.

“Many customers don’t like to be put on hold,” Sternberg said. “They want to see the menu and pricing. And they like to move ahead with their order at their own pace. This can be done on the Internet.”

Domino’s Pizza, with 5,000 stores in the United States, sees online ordering as a staple of its future. Some of its stores have been testing online ordering with success, and officials predict it will eventually be used companywide. Online testing is being done in Michigan and in San Diego, New York City and Gainesville, Fla.

“From our experience, offering online ordering will be required of us,” said Tim McIntyre, vice president of corporate communications for Domino’s. “Our consumer base is headed in that direction. People are always looking for convenience and control.

“Online ordering takes a lot of guesswork out of it,” he added. “You are eliminating the mistakes. You are the one doing the clicking as opposed to relying on someone at the other end of the phone hearing you correctly.”

Neither Little Caesar’s pizza, headquartered in downtown Detroit, nor Hungry Howie’s, a Madison Heights pizza chain, has any immediate plans to provide online ordering, officials at those companies said.

Pizza Hut, the nation’s largest pizza chain, began testing online ordering more than a decade ago and is working to get all of its stores wired with the Internet. Last month the company began offering a Spanish language Web site for online ordering.

“It’s more than a test now,” said Chris Fuller, a Pizza Hut spokesman.

Orders routed automatically
Hoyt Jones, 48, has been testing online ordering at his eight Domino’s franchises — seven around Ann Arbor and Ypsilanti and one near Michigan State University — the past eight months.

Online orders are automatically routed to the pizza preparation area and are integrated into the flow of phone and walk-in orders. During slow periods, bells sound to alert workers that an online order has arrived.

Already, online ordering represents 7 percent to 8 percent of Jones’ business and has proven especially popular with college students. And businesses like online ordering for advance orders, said Jones, who worked in Domino’s franchising department from 1985 until 2002, when he began opening his own stores.

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U.S. chain Papa John’s International Inc. plans to grab a bigger slice of the extremely competitive Canadian pizza market, announcing yesterday it will open 57 new locations across the country beginning this year.

The company, which bills itself as the world’s third-largest pizza company, currently operates 14 locations in Western Canada and says Canada is a target for international growth. The restaurants will be built under development agreements with franchise groups in different parts of the country.

“Canada is a key focus area for our international expansion,” chief financial officer David Flanery said in a release. “And these multiunit franchise operators will help us further establish a strong foothold in that country.”

Papa John’s is beefing up in Canada as domestic pizza companies are already aggressively expanding into each others’ territories.

Last year, Pizza Pizza Ltd. announced it is expanding from its base in Central Canada to Alberta, while Panago Pizza Inc. has been moving east from its base in British Columbia, opening its first restaurant in Toronto last spring and announcing plans to open 150 locations in southern Ontario.

Boston Pizza, based in Richmond, B.C., has also been expanding eastward from its Western base.

Food service consultant Douglas Fisher said the “quick service” market for takeout and delivery pizza - which is Papa John’s typical model - is an especially saturated sector in Canada.

“I think it’s a really price-sensitive market and it’s really tough to penetrate it,” he said.

“And we’ve got Pizza Pizza, which is certainly a strong driver in the market in Ontario for sure.”

Pizza Pizza operates 616 locations across Canada, most of them in Ontario.

Mr. Fisher said ingredient prices are typically higher in Canada than the United States, and the pizza sector in particular is currently being hit with by a double whammy of rising flour prices and rising cheese prices.

Based in Louisville, Ky., Papa John’s operates 3,200 locations worldwide, including 450 restaurants outside the United States.

The company’s development agreements call for 20 restaurants to be built in Atlantic Canada by franchisee PJ Atlantic Franchising Ltd., and 10 to be built in Saskatchewan by MJ Taylor Holding Co.

As well, Bajco LLC will build 15 restaurants in western Ontario, while PDR Associates Inc. will build 12 units in eastern Ontario.

Each franchise group has committed to having at least one restaurant opened in 2008, the company said in a release yesterday.

Mr. Fisher said it is important to see how quickly the chain builds its new Canadian locations. He said he has seen many companies announce aggressive expansions into Canada only to build a fraction of the locations originally promised.

That’s because many U.S. chains typically have higher operating profits than Canadian locations, and are disappointed they cannot match those margins when they expand northward.

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Check out Papa John’s countering U.S. pizza sector woes by continuing its global expansion and announcing plans to open more locations in Canada.

Last month, at the Reuters Food Summit in Chicago, Papa John’s CEO Nigel Travis said the pizza industry was under more pressure than it was at the beginning of the year.

“I personally think we are in a recession,” Travis told the Summit, adding that U.S. consumers are increasingly concerned about the economy.

To offset struggles in the U.S. market, Travis talked of Papa John’s international growth potential, and on Monday the world’s third-largest pizza company said it had signed development deals to open 57 additional Papa John’s restaurants throughout Canada.

“Canada is a key focus area for our international expansion,” said David Flanery, Papa John’s chief financial officer and managing director, international.

There are currently 14 Papa John’s restaurants open throughout Western Canada. The chain has more than 3,200 locations open worldwide, including 450 international restaurants in 28 countries.

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