‘More personalised and relevant’: How Papa Johns democratised data for franchisees

For franchise brands, one of the most persistent challenges is balancing global or national marketing strategy with local execution.

Central teams must ensure brand consistency and compliance, while franchisees need the tools and knowledge to market effectively to local customers.

Papa Johns has spent the past two years trying to address this tension by giving franchisees greater access to customer data, shifting from a predominantly national marketing approach to a more localised model with the goal of retaining customers.

“We identified post-Covid that our biggest challenge was customer retention,” says Kanchan Lad, senior product manager for martech, CRM and loyalty at Papa Johns.

“There were lots of new customers during that time. The challenge was how to retain those customers. How do we make sure they come back for another pizza and have a brilliant experience with us,” she adds.

Democratising data for franchisees

In early 2024, Papa Johns launched a “local marketing hub” for its UK network, powered by customer engagement platforms Braze and Snowflake. The hub was designed to give more than 400 stores access to customer data in a way that is simple, compliant and usable for non-marketers.

Lad says the brand was conscious that data and marketing technology can feel intimidating for franchise owners, many of whom are focused on operational delivery rather than marketing execution.

“The question we asked was how do we democratise the data and empower our franchisees to understand their local customers better, because they are running the shop,” she says. “They want to connect with their customers, they want to improve their experience. The idea was to enable them to be able to do so in a 100% compliant way.”

The hub allows franchisees to create personalised campaigns in minutes, using pre-approved templates and audience segments, without needing specialist marketing knowledge or direct involvement from head office.

Papa Johns still runs national campaigns tied to key moments in the calendar, such as National Pineapple Day, but the local marketing hub enables franchisees to activate these moments in a more targeted way.

“For something like National Pineapple Day, franchisees can select customers, or the size of customers, who have previously purchased a Hawaiian pizza,” Lad explains. “They can then reach exactly that audience with communications. It’s much more personalised and relevant.”Guidance published for how ‘less healthy’ food ad rules will be enforced

According to Lad, the impact on customer experience conversion rates and purchases was immediate. Since the launch of the hub, Papa Johns reports a 180% uplift in SMS revenue, a 170% increase in purchases and an 18% rise in conversions year-on-year.

SMS marketing is a large part of the local marketing hub strategy, which Lad admits can be seen as an “intrusive channel”. However, since allowing franchisees to make these decisions, requests to opt out of SMS marketing reduced by over 70% year-on-year.

“People did want to hear from us and wanted to continue hearing from Papa Johns a lot more,” she says. “It happened because franchisees know who to target, who to speak to, but also if customers did want to opt out, they don’t always need to go through a very difficult process. It’s as simple as replying to a number saying stop.”

Built for non-marketers

A core design of the local marketing hub was to be as “simple as three steps” from campaign creation to launch, as well as giving transparency over the success of campaigns.

“We enabled them [franchisees] so much so that they don’t have to contact us to see whether the campaign has worked or not,” she adds.

After the initial rollout, Papa Johns supplemented training sessions with user guides to further simplify concepts around data and targeting. The result, Lad says, has been high adoption across the network.

“Franchisees are on it constantly – every week,” she says. “If there’s a big game at a stadium near a store, they know exactly which customers to reach with a matchday bundle.”

The platform’s targeting capabilities have also enabled franchisees to experiment in ways Lad did not anticipate, including making use of A/B test levels that Lad “wouldn’t have imagined”.

“The possibilities are endless,” she says.

As a technology team, you don’t always get that level of feedback. [Franchisees] are excited about what’s possible so they are calling us with bright ideas.

Kanchan Lad, Papa Johns

Beyond metrics, Lad says the initiative has improved relationships between franchisees and the central marketing and technology teams.

“We now get calls from franchisees with ideas,” she says. “As a technology team, you don’t always get that level of feedback. They’re excited about what’s possible so they are calling us with bright ideas.”

The hub sits within a broader data strategy at Papa Johns, aimed at giving more people across the business access to insight without exposing sensitive customer information.

“It’s about empowering more people in the business to understand the data we have,” she explains.

Alongside the hub, Papa Johns has spent the past few years modernising its technology stack, ensuring systems connect through a central data warehouse. The brand also relaunched its loyalty programme last year, with a renewed focus on how it engages members, which it will continue to develop in 2026.

The relaunch followed research showing that post-pandemic consumers increasingly prioritise instant gratification over longer-term rewards.

“I think it could be a general insight of how loyalty is shifting across the world. People want to know what’s in it for them and what they can get tomorrow from being a member,” she adds.

Under the updated scheme, customers earn one point for every pound spent, with points converting into cashback once a threshold is reached.

“[Consumers] are also a lot more careful about sharing data. They ask: ‘What are you doing with that data? And how do you improve experience?’,” she adds.

The brand is now focused on differentiating the experience for loyalty members compared to guest customers, testing ways it can make members feel “special”.Values, trust, anticipation: What next for price innovation in 2026?

The renewed focus on data, local engagement and loyalty comes against a challenging financial backdrop for Papa Johns in the UK over the past few years.

Papa Johns closed 74 UK stores in 2024 due to financial losses and high costs, impacting many locations across England and Scotland. The company closed roughly a seventh of its UK estate as it shifted its focus towards profitability, opening just seven new restaurants during the period.

In its most recent earnings period for the three months ended 28 September 2025, international system-wide sales increased 10% to $331.5m (£245m) compared with the prior year period.