Success
does leave clues and clue one is corporate conflict and infighting amid a
public relations nightmare should be avoided at all cost according to Steven
Johnson, Grocerant Guru® at
Tacoma, WA based Foodservice Solutions®.
Papa
John’s franchisees are now and will be paying the price, footing the bill,
and capitulating retail momentum the longer John Schnatter Papa John’s founder
and largest shareholder and current management egos continue the battle of who
should be running the company.
Last
week during the earnings call Schnatter was not on the call after he tendered
his resignation from the board; befuddling all he then sent out a statement on
the company’s performance, laying the blame squarely with the Papa John’s current
management.
Now
remember that’s the same management that he hired, worked with and
praised. If this sounds like political
infighting; it is! By the way that is a bad thing for the company, worst for
the franchisee. Lawyers and
the news media will fare better than franchisee’s the longer this conflict
continues according to Johnson. The side
are being drawn you have Jim Cramer saying to investors buy Dominos’ Pizza over
Papa John’s.
You have University
of Louisville taking Papa John’s name off its football stadium. All the
while Ball
State after seeing a large response after Papa John's decision to remove Schnatter the Trustees
at Ball State decided to support the pizza-chain founder, who graduated from
the university in 1983
The fact
is Papa John’s has maintained a ‘pizza’ sector status quo positioning for too
long according to Johnson. Schnatter and his team the current management followed
the time tested rule for public companies ‘do no harm’. When you maintain the status quo at all cost
and are not proactive within the retail sector, there is a big price to pay
when mistakes come along.
That
price is being paid by the franchisees.
A new marketing / advertising company will create a new message that can
deflect from the noise of the internal squabble. However it will not be enough to drive long term
sales and bottom line profits for franchisees.
Domino’s
without conflict completed changed their core product taste, look, and texture
then revised its menu and now is leading the pizza sector in success. Marketing messaging is not enough to save
Papa John’s franchisee from closing units, capitulating market share and
profits. Whoever is going to lead Papa John’s in 2019 has to step-up, and step-away
from the status quo.
If
success does leave clues Papa John’s franchisees must get current management
and Schnatter on the same page focusing on the consumers need-set not their egos
in the mind-eye of Johnson.
Are
you ready for some fresh ideations? Do your food marketing ideations look more
like yesterday than today or tomorrow? Interested in learning how www.FoodserviceSolutions.us can edify your retail food brand while
creating a platform for consumer convenient meal participation, differentiation
and individualization? Email us
at: Steve@FoodserviceSolutions.us or visit: www.FoodserviceSolutions.us for more information
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