Papa John's launches new app, raising funds not on the cards for now

Papa John’s has recently launched its new app to provide a world-class culinary pizza experience to all its patrons. The cutting-edge app makes it convenient for pizza lovers to indulge in their favourite Papa John’s flavours. Its rich user interface, smooth in-app navigation and flawless operations have already set it on the path to success. The traffic on the app has more than doubled in a short span.
According to research conducted by mobile analytics firm Flurry, users spend 90 per cent of their time on apps, rather than the mobile web. BI Intelligence – Business Insider’s research arm –pointed out in its 2015 survey, on an average, a user downloads eight apps on his phone, every month. These trends clearly indicate that the world is moving to apps to de-clutter their brand interface.
Online transactions account for 45 per cent of Papa John’s business and out of this mobile app itself contributes 20-25 per cent. Whereas around 17 per cent of the mobile users use mobile apps to place their order.
“At Papa John’s, we like to stay up to speed with our customers’ lifestyle. An app is definitely a positive step in that direction. Our well-designed and robust app helps users save time and makes the ordering process simpler. We have made the app available on both, Android as well as iOS, to cater to our customers who’re spread across these platforms,” explained CEO, Papa John’s, Sandeep Singh.
He further added, “The app is among our many steps to ensure our customers always stay happy and contended. The response is phenomenal and we are hoping to build on the app in the future, to provide a more seamless brand experience.”
The app is available to users in all cities across India i.e. Mumbai, Pune, Hyderabad, Chennai and Bengaluru.
Elaborating on the other reasons behind introducing their own app, Singh said, “There are companies and aggregators which are offering delivery services but you cannot be dependent on them and moreover you have to pay commissions to them. Secondly, you are not able to reach the customer directly.”
Innovation At Its Best
And mobile app is not all that Papa John’s is doing to take on competition. The pizza place is planning to introduce a whole new range of crusts on the menu. Apart from this, they are also planning to introduce dishes which are only a part of their international menu currently. Customers can also expect a variety of salads which were discontinued some time ago.
Singh said, “We are working on lot of innovations specially when it comes to the kind of pizzas we are serving as well as the kind of products that we are offering to the customers.”
He added, “Earlier, we used to have salads and we will introduce them again, this time with better ingredients.”
Infusing Indian Flavours
Just like its competitors, Papa John’s also has a range of pizzas on its menu that blends Indian and international flavours very well.
“Our heritage range belongs to the local palate where we have pizzas from every part of India on our menu. But at the same time we do not want to move out of our international range because the Indian crowd is more of metropolitan crowd and they like International flavours as much as they like Indian flavours. We want to maintain right mix of international and domestic flavours in our menu and we are doing that.”
But as Domino’s and Pizza Hut keep on innovating their menu as far as introducing side options is concerned, Papa John’s refrains from having an expansive options for sides as it works only on delivery concept.
“We are a Quick Service Restaurant based on delivery concept, and for us it is the delivery experience that we cater to. This is the reason we have less sides on the menu. We prefer sides which retain its similar taste even after 30 minutes of delivery,” explained Singh.
Expansion Plans
Quick Service Restaurants (QSR) have continued to be a significant segment of the Indian foodservice industry, especially the organised market in India. The increasing desire for convenience and affordability along with the rising craving for international food has seen QSRs channel their efforts towards meeting these needs.
According to India Foodservices Report 2016, “The size of the QSR market is estimated at Rs 9,125 crore in 2016. It is projected to grow at the CAGR of 22 per cent to reach Rs 24,665 by 2021.
Considering the massive opportunity in the Indian QSR segment, Papa John’s is planning to take its total outlet count to 100 this fiscal.
The company that registered same store sales growth at 16 per cent has more than tripled its presence since the acquisition of Pizza Corner in 2014.
Singh said, “There were around 20 outlets in 2014 and we stand at 67 today. Our priority to open total of 100 outlets this fiscal and from there onwards we would like to explore further but we have no plans to raise funds right now.”
Papa John’s which claims to be the third largest pizza restaurant chain in India after Dominos and Pizza Hut, has up till now expanded in the Southern and Western markets of the country. But now, it is looking forward to expand more in Western and Northern India through franchisee mode and the brand is also planning to open company-owned outlets.
“Papa John’s does not have a strong presence in Northern India as compared to other parts of India and it is a part of a strategic decision as we wanted our dominance in Southern part of the country and then grow further. So out of 67 only 4 outlets are in West and rest are in South,” said Singh.
“Whereas now our growth plan is towards West and North India. First of all we will be spreading our wings in West India – Mumbai, Pune and Gujarat – and then we will be heading towards North – Delhi/ NCR,” concluded Singh.