Papa Johns on Thursday named Todd Penegor its new CEO, taking advantage of the availability of one of the top available industry executives on the open job market.
The Louisville, Ky.-based pizza chain said Penegor will take the job “effective immediately” and will be named to the board of directors.
The decision follows a game of restaurant industry musical chairs that started late last year with the departure of Randy Garutti as CEO of Shake Shack. That chain then hired Papa Johns CEO Rob Lynch to take that job. Ravi Thanawala had been interim CEO of the pizza chain since then.
Meanwhile, Wendy’s ousted Penegor in January as it opted to bring in Kirk Tanner to be its chief executive.
But Penegor comes with a strong resume. He was instrumental in the chain finally cracking the code on breakfast as it generated 12 straight years of same-store sales growth. He also helped get the chain growing in international markets, something it had struggled to do for years.
“When Todd was appointed CEO of Wendy’s after serving as the company’s CFO, he had the full support of the franchise system,” Mike Zak, a 29-year Wendy’s operator, said in a statement. “Papa Johns is very fortunate to get a leader with the strategic vision, the passion for the restaurants and the people skills to bring all parties together.”
He takes over Papa Johns at a critical time. The pizza chain had thrived during the pandemic, but sales have slowed coming out of it after consumers shifted to other restaurants.
A shift from local to national marketing this past spring didn’t generate promised sales, at least initially.
Penegor has had a long career as an executive. He held key leadership roles at Kellogg Co. and Ford Motor Co. before he was named CFO and later CEO of Wendy’s. “Todd has an outstanding record of leading winning teams and scaling franchised operations globally through trusted partnerships, product innovation and digital transformation,” Christopher Coleman, chairman of Papa Johns board of directors, said in a statement.
There is at least some irony in the Penegor-to-Papa Johns situation: Wendy’s and Papa Johns reportedly held merger talks before the ouster of the pizza chain’s founder and former chairman John Schnatter.
“Papa Johns already has the best pizza in the industry,” Penegor said in a statement. “I am committed to providing exceptional customer experiences across all of our offerings and touchpoints to ensure we unlock the full potential of Papa Johns’ differentiated market position.”
Todd Penegor/Photo courtesy of Papa Johns.
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