Papa John’s picks Georgia for new global headquarters, moves jobs out of Kentucky
Pizza giant Papa John’s has picked metro-Atlanta has the home for its new global headquarters.
The company announced the decision early Thursday, revealing plans to relocate its marketing, menu innovation, customer service, communications teams and others to Georgia from its hometown in Louisville, Kentucky, according to a news release.
“We’re thrilled to open a headquarters office in such an energetic and diverse region,” Papa John’s President and CEO Rob Lynch said. “Metro Atlanta’s deep talent pool and its world-class airport connecting us to the domestic and international markets that are key to our brand’s future will accelerate our long-term growth.”
The move is expected to bring 200 new jobs to the Atlanta area, a company spokesperson told WSB-TV. The city boasts Papa John’s “largest corporate-owned” restaurant market and will be home to the pizza chain’s “newest and most sophisticated (quality control center),” according to the release.
“We think that Atlanta can help us get the talent we need,” Lynch told The Atlanta-Journal Constitution, adding the the brand will invest nearly $10 million in the move and new headquarters.
Papa John’s operates more than 100 store locations across Georgia, including 80 in the Atlanta metro area, according to the newspaper. It also runs nine Georgia locations in partnership with former NBA star Shaquille O’Neal.
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Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp said it was a “pleasure” to add the popular pizza chain to the growing list of corporations that have picked the Peach State for their main headquarters.
“As the Top State for Business for seven consecutive years, these leading businesses know that Georgia has what they need to continue to thrive and expand,” Kemp said in a statement. “I am confident that Papa John’s will continue finding success in Georgia, and I look forward to seeing the exceptional opportunities this brings to hardworking Georgians across metro Atlanta.”
The company is looking at a number of office locations across the metro-Atlanta area, and officials said they expect to complete the move by summer 2021.
Papa John’s information technology, supply chain and legal departments will remain in Louisville, officials said. A company rep told WLKY that the “majority of Papa’s John’s HQ workforce will remain” in Kentucky, though the number of staffers who will stay behind is still unclear. (
McClatchy News reached out to Papa John’s for more information and is awaiting response.
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