Pizza

Operations

MOD Pizza shuttered 26 restaurants during the first quarter

Five units were in California but the fast-food wage there was not to blame, the fast casual said. The closed restaurants in 10 states and the District of Columbia were "underperformers."

Marketing

Papa Johns just introduced a major new marketing platform

The pizza delivery chain is building on its “Better Ingredients, Better Pizza” with a new marketing slogan, “Better Get You Some," along with a campaign featuring Big Boi.

A Deeper Dive: This week’s episode of the RB podcast features Tom Sacco, CEO of the Iowa-based pizza chain Happy Joe’s, on adapting the brand for today’s restaurant diners.

The Bottom Line: Growth that came so easy to pizza delivery chains like Domino’s, Pizza Hut and Papa Johns is now much harder to come by. And now two of them are looking for new leadership.

Aaron Powell, the pizza chain’s global CEO, will take over management of the restaurant brand domestically while a replacement is found.

The fast-casual burger chain is plucking the Papa Johns chief executive to take over for Randy Garutti in May. Ravi Thanawala will become the pizza chain’s interim CEO.

The state has the lowest penetration of pizza places and the highest prices. And the state with the highest-rated local pizzas? Try New Hampshire.

The Washington, D.C.-based chain has a (sort of) new CEO who has made lots of changes. His message to workers: Uncover those neck tattoos and crank up the music. You can be you.

The chain partnered with Yeastie Boys food trucks to launch the Big New Yorker Pizza Bagel.

The company is shifting spending from local marketing to national marketing and has plans for “major food innovation” come April.

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