The Money & Finance Blog

Papa John’s, the third-largest pizza delivery chain in the US has surpassed $1 billion in online pizza sales. Even at night, when the Andy Freitas’ pizza restaurants are silent, cooks keep on working trying to meet customer orders. It took seven years for Louisville-based Papa John’s International Inc. to hit this record.

Just after starting the Web-based ordering in 2001, Papa John’s has invested about $15 million in it’s online ordering system. Customers have the opportunity to make online orders up to 21 days in advance.
Moreover, from now on the consumers are also able to repeat their most recent orders, just with one click. The statistics show that more than 20 percent of Papa John’s sales come from online orders or text messaging. By now, the online business appears to be more and more popular in 50 Washington-area stores.

Yahoo Finance quotes Jim Ensign, vice president of marketing communications at Papa John’s, who strongly believes that less then three years are required to hit the second billion.

“It took us seven years to reach our first billion in online sales, and at our current pace and growth rate it will take us less than three years to hit our next billion,”

However, according to Black Hair Media, pizza market leader remains Pizza Hut, which has shown a sixfold grown in online orders for the last three years.

Pizza Hut said it’s online orders have grown sixfold in the last three years. Company spokesman Chris Fuller said the online segment is a significant part of the overall business, but he wouldn’t give specifics.

Pizza Hut, the nation’s biggest pizza chain, also allows customers to order via text messaging and mobile Web. The unit of Yum Brands Inc. soon will unveil a new method for ordering pizzas, dubbed “Pizza Hut Shortcut,” that it says will be the fastest in the industry. Customers will be able to download a “widget” onto their computers that will let them place their favorite pizza orders with just one click.

Photo: © Ralph Dagza

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