Food & Beverage · registry year 2024 · HQ KY
Papa John's Franchise
A Papa John's Intl brand operating in the food & beverage sector, franchising since 1986. According to the 2024 FDD filing for Papa John's, this is an editorial comparison record; it does not reproduce the brand's current FDD.
- $130K – $844K
- Initial investment · Mid-range entry cost
- 5.0%
- Royalty rate · Mid-range royalty
- 5,752
- Total locations · Large network
- $1.1M
- Avg unit revenue · Mid-range unit revenue
FDD outlay schedule
Registry papa-john-s Papa John's
Papa John's needs $130K–$844K to open and charges a 5.0% royalty - an entry cost below the typical food & beverage franchise.
- LO $130K
- HI $844K
- FEE $25K
- ROY 5.0%
- UNT 5,752
- I19 Disclosed
- INV# #139/223
- UNT# #23/223
Same-sector Item 7 peers
Nearest Item 7 peer: Domino's ($131K)
Same-sector Item 7 neighbourhood for Papa John's (registry year 2024). Listed lows only - not a profit, cost-of-living, or suitability claim. Verify the current FDD before relying on these figures. How we place brands →
Franchise Opportunity Health Score
How healthy and transparent Papa John's's franchise system looks, from 2 of 2 tracked dimensions.
- Network momentum -0.9% net unit growth (YoY) 11/100 · F
- Financial disclosure Item 19 disclosed 100/100 · A
Benchmarked against the 223-brand tracked corpus (p10-p90 range per dimension); a higher score means a growing unit count and a disclosed Item 19. See how we place brands.
Where Papa John's's investment ranks nationally
Papa John's's listed Item 7 low of $130K against every one of the 218 tracked franchise brands with a disclosed initial investment. Listed figures only, verify in the current FDD before relying on them.
Papa John's vs all tracked franchise brands by listed investment
Initial investment low (FDD Item 7), PlainFranchise brand corpus
$130,000 Lower than most lower than 63% of 218 franchise brands
Franchise brands, banded by listed Item 7 low
Each bar is a $0.001K-wide band; taller bars hold more franchise brands. The dashed line + filled bar mark this entry. Hover or tap any bar for its full count and share, and where it sits relative to this entry.
Source PlainFranchise editorial comparison registry · 2024-12-31
Investment Overview
- Franchise Fee
- $25K
- Ad Fund Rate
- 8.0%
Revenue Data (Item 19)
- Average Revenue
- $1.1M
- gross revenue per location
* Revenue figures are gross revenue (sales), not profit. This registry does not report operating costs or profit.
Network Size & Growth
Net Growth Rate
Year-over-year unit change
250 locations closed in the last reporting year
Quick Facts
- Sector
- Food & Beverage
- Subsector
- quick service restaurant
- Founded
- 1984
- Franchising Since
- 1986
- Headquarters
- KY
- FDD Year
- 2024
- Item 19
- Disclosed
Important Notice · Papa John's
This Papa John's page is a registry comparison record, not a verified FDD extract. It does not establish suitability, operating costs, profitability, or expected results for Papa John's.
National footprint registry read for Papa John's
Signature read: 5,752 locations · Item 7 low $130K
Papa John's, a Papa John's Intl franchise, has been franchising since 1986 - 2 years after the concept was founded in 1984 , currently with 5,752 total locations (5,752 franchised, 0 company-owned; 100% of the recorded total is franchised) in the food & beverage sector, headquartered in KY. This editorial registry lists a total initial investment from $130K to $844K, using the registry's listed low and high fields. A franchise-fee field of $25K is recorded separately, while the registry summary does not reproduce the full Item 7 schedule.
Royalty payments here are set at 5.0% of gross sales, plus a 8.0% national ad-fund field; the listed percentages sum to 13.0%. Papa John's has an Item 19 financial-performance field in this registry, a voluntary disclosure under the FTC Franchise Rule. The reported average gross revenue per location is $1.1M; the listed royalty rate multiplied by the reported average equals $55K, which is not a total-cost or profit calculation. Revenue is distinct from profit, and the registry does not provide a complete operating-cost record.
Network momentum is currently negative: Papa John's contracted by 0.9% year-over-year with 250 closures on the record. The percentage does not identify why the count changed or what it means for a specific location.
Frequently Asked Questions
How much does a Papa John's franchise cost?
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What are the ongoing fees for a Papa John's franchise?
Related reading for Papa John's: Understanding FDDs , Papa John's lists Item 19 revenue here, how Item 19 fits the 23-item FDD.
Snapshot uses the registry's listed Item 7 initial-investment low and Item 20 location-count fields. It is a descriptive comparison, not a ranking or investment recommendation.
How Papa John's's Item 7 and Item 19 fields are labeled (expand)
Nationwide brands with similar investment or network size
Two data-derived peer sets for Papa John's , both outside HQ state KY : nearest Item 7 lows and nearest total-location counts, not the same-sector roster below.
Similar listed investment
Nearest Item 7 lows ($130K here).
Similar network size
Nearest total location counts (5,752 here).
What to do with this
Papa John's at a glance, drawn from the same figures above.
- Papa John's scores 56/100 (F) on our composite opportunity read, combining net unit growth and Item 19 financial-disclosure transparency.
- Its $130K – $844K entry cost runs below the typical food & beverage franchise.
- Ranks #139 of 223 listed franchises by initial investment. See rankings
- Domino's sits at a comparable investment level ($131K) in the same sector. Compare
Editorial comparison registry, not a source-linked FDD record. Verify the current FDD before relying on any figure.
Read our methodology - what this registry can and cannot establish.
Source: PlainFranchise editorial registry Record-level FDD source link and retrieval date pending
| Publisher | PlainFranchise |
| Sources | Public state franchise disclosure registries and FDD filings |