Papa Johns UK achieved its fourth busiest day on record on Saturday 11 July, boosted by England’s World Cup quarter-final match.
The pizza chain, which has seen orders soar throughout the tournament, said sales on 11 July were only beaten previously by the past two New Year’s Eves and the Euro quarter-final in 2021.
The day also marked Papa Johns UK’s second busiest Saturday to date, while it sold the most pizzas per order of any day this year (excluding public holidays).
Following the previous England game, which took place at 2am on Monday 6 July, Papa Johns saw sales increase by 305% compared with a typical trading period.
More generally, the food-to-go chain is seeing an average 50% uplift in sales during peak World Cup games, alongside a notable increase in app orders.
Speaking with The Grocer, Papa Johns marketing director Rebecca Carroll said the business had been preparing its strategy six months in advance of the World Cup.
She described digital and data as “key pillars” in the pizza giant’s strategy this year. “We’re seeing a huge shift in people using our app, which is really positive.
“App customers tend to be more loyal and tend to be more frequent. We’ve done a few things to help with that, including our score predictor engagement game through the app. We also looked at customers that ordered during previous tournaments and aligned our strategy to make sure people were getting slightly more relevant messaging.”
She explained that with people “shopping less frequently” and “not eating out as much”, the at-home viewing occasion has been “even more important for this World Cup”, adding that Papa Johns has been able to “really capitalise on that”.
While Carroll noted that “value in particular is key”, the business has also looked at its menu offerings to draw in more customers. “We really noticed that across meat pizzas, we didn’t have as many as the competition and we saw that as a really big opportunity to improve our core offering in terms of variety. We brought in a lot of new meat pizzas and timed it ahead of the World Cup. They now account for about 10% of our overall pizza mix.”
She said that with many Papa Johns stores open late and some with extended late-night licences, these additional hours have also “driven huge growth” for the business.
Elsewhere, the pizza chain is leaning into the “importance of cultural relevance” through its partnerships with the likes of YouTube sensations the Sidemen.
“More and more there is expectation from consumers to show up authentically and be a brand that participates in moments and conversations they care about. A year ago, the Sidemen did a taste test of the pizza industry and we came out as their preferred pizza brand, so we were really keen to work with them, knowing that they were fans of our pizzas,” Carroll explained.
“It enabled us to reach football fans and the younger audience. It was really important in terms of driving relevance, but also translated into sales and we saw massive spikes during that activity prior to the World Cup.”
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