Papa John's $0.23 Promotion Produces Long Lines, Little Pizza
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Promo To Remedy "Crybaby"
T-Shirts Backfires For Papa John's |
Papa John's Thursday offered $0.23 pizzas at 86 stores throughout Ohio intended to "remedy a franchisee's insult" to Cavaliers F LeBron James, but the promotion "resulted in closed stores, long lines and angry customers after stores became overwhelmed by the demand," according to Sherri Williams of the COLUMBUS DISPATCH. At some stores, police were called to "help control the crowds." By the end of the day, all Columbus-area stores "appeared to have closed" because they sold out of pizzas, which were "meant to be offered all day." The offer was issued after a DC-area Papa John's franchise last Friday sponsored a "crybaby" T-shirt mocking James for Game Six of the Cavaliers-Wizards first-round playoff series. Papa John's said that proceeds from the promotion would go to the Cavaliers Youth Fund and the LeBron James Family Foundation (COLUMBUS DISPATCH, 5/9). In Cleveland, Laura Johnston reports "hundreds of pizza-hungry people ... had swarmed the parking lot" at a Cleveland-area store by 10:00am ET. Papa John's Northeast Region VP Tim North: "We're certainly a bit surprised about how darn popular this is." Papa John's Dir of Operations Jimmy Delonte said that another Cleveland-area store at 8:25pm started handing out vouchers because the store "could not guarantee all in line would get pizzas" (Cleveland PLAIN DEALER, 5/9).
CORPORATE RESPONSE: Papa John’s CEO Nigel Travis said the company "actually sent extra pizzas up there (Wednesday and Thursday). But we are giving people rain checks. ... It’s costing us money, but our reputation is number one.” He added the company was not "pleased about the fact that a couple of people appeared at the game with T-shirts with ‘Crybaby,' ‘23’ and ‘Papa John’s’ on. That was actually against our instructions.” Papa John's has donated around $10,000 to James' foundation (Fox Business, 5/8).
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