Papa John’s International announced it acquired Drake Food Service International’s restaurants in the UK. The financial terms of the transaction were not disclosed. The new restaurant portfolio will consist of 91 locations across London and other parts of the UK. As part of the transition, approximately 1,000 employees working for DFSI M25 will become Papa John’s team members. Minimal, if any, disruption to customers is expected during the transition time, the pizza specialist anticipates.

The largest number of Papa John’s stores outside of North America is in the UK, a market where there is still “tremendous whitespace in the market”, according to Amanda Clark, Chief International and Development Officer for Papa Johns. “Owning and operating restaurants will allow Papa John’s to follow a similar model that we’ve created in the US, which enables us to leverage our resources, best practices and scale with franchisees in the UK and worldwide to further their success.”

“The investments we are making today, combined with our global resources and in-house expertise, will enable Papa John’s to drive higher sales going forward,” said Rob Payne, Managing Director of Papa John’s in the UK. “Establishing a corporate-owned restaurant portfolio is one of many steps we are taking to reposition our UK portfolio in a way that ensures our franchisees and this market drive above-average industry growth over the long term. This announcement follows other initiatives we’ve undertaken including investments in marketing technology, pricing and operations.”

DFSI will continue to hold its master franchise rights for Papa John’s in Spain, Portugal, Chile and Central America. “By exiting our stake in the UK, we will be able to focus our efforts on our Papa John’s portfolio in Iberia and Latin America,” said Fernando Frauca, Managing Partner and CEO of DFSI. “We are proud to be a partner of this brand and look forward to continuing to invest in our other markets.”

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