Papa John’s Digital Footprint Leadership

Back in the day Tacoma, WA Foodservice Solutions® Grocerant Guru® Steven Johnson was instrumental in helping Ford Smith, Tim Glass, and Jim Brimhall drive success and evolve cyberclice, cybermeals, and Food.com.  The first national restaurant chain to sign a letter of intent with cybermeals was Papa John’s. John Schnatter and his team flew into Seattle, WA inspected our headquarters, probed, questioned, and with a focus on the consumer willingly moved forward 

I was not surprised when I learned that Papa John’s was advancing its digital brand messaging once again.  With its launch of Facebook Instant Ordering, people with a love for better pizza won’t have to pause between liking their friends’ vacation photos on social media and ordering a Papa John’s pizza.

Now Papa John’s national Facebook page now features a prominent “Start Order” button—giving Papa John’s fans one more way to seamlessly order their favorite pizzas, desserts and sides. When ordering through Facebook, customers will receive 25 percent off regular menu prices by entering promo code: FBIX.

Today customers can access Papa John’s Facebook Instant Experience through several entry points so they can order pizza without ever having to leave the Facebook app—via the brand’s national Facebook page as well as the Timeline’s “Order Food” option, indicated by a hamburger icon. Facebook may soon consider changing that symbol to a slice of pizza.

Brandon Rhoten, Global CMO of Papa John’s stated “The only thing that could make the video of your friend’s new puppy better is a Papa John’s pizza being delivered while you’re watching it,... “We love that Facebook is giving their 2 billion active monthly users access to real-world experiences like food ordering, and are proud to be the first national pizza brand on board.”

With this new integrated ordering feature, Papa John’s continues to find new ways to provide the best digital experience to its customers. Back in the day Papa John’s was a leader in offering online ordering they were the first chain in the US to do so.  Let’s look at just how they continue to lead:

In addition to now being the first national pizza brand to allow guests to order pizza instantly through Facebook, Papa John’s was the first national pizza company:

First With digital ordering at all of its U.S. delivery restaurants in 2001

First To offer system wide mobile ordering with SMS text in 2007

First To launch a nationwide digital rewards program in 2010, Papa Rewards

First To offer gift cards that can be used on mobile devices

First To surpass 60 percent of total U.S. sales via digital channels

First To launch a custom Apple TV ordering app (first national restaurant brand, not only pizza)

Success does leave clues and Papa John’s continues to evolve with a customer focus.  It’s that simple so our success clue for today is focus on the customer and remember the consumer is dynamic not static and your brand must be dynamic as well.

Foodservice Solutions® specializes in outsourced business development. We can help you identify, quantify and qualify additional food retail segment opportunities or a new menu product segment and brand and menu integration strategy.  Foodservice Solutions® of Tacoma WA is the global leader in the Grocerant niche visit Facebook.com/Steven Johnson, Linkedin.com/in/grocerant/ or twitter.com/grocerant