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Papa John’s Appoints Karlin Linhardt as Global Chief Marketing Officer

PZZA | March 28, 2019

Papa John’s Appoints Karlin Linhardt as Global Chief Marketing Officer

Papa John’s International, Inc. (NASDAQ: PZZA), one of the world’s largest pizza delivery companies, today announced the appointment of Karlin Linhardt as its Global Chief Marketing Officer. Mr. Linhardt is a veteran marketing leader with deep Quick Service Restaurant (QSR) category experience and C-suite executive roles at global Fortune-500 restaurant companies, consumer brands and top professional services firms, including Anheuser-Busch, McDonald’s, Accenture and Subway.

In his most recent role, Mr. Linhardt served as Senior Vice President of Marketing for North America for Subway Restaurants, where he led brand management and guest experience for 30,000 restaurants and designed the company’s global brand transformation plan. Prior to Subway, Mr. Linhardt served as a Senior Consultant of Business and Digital Strategies at Accenture, a leading global professional services company.

“Karlin is a seasoned marketing executive who I am confident will contribute to our ‘BETTER INGREDIENTS. BETTER PIZZA.’ brand value proposition,” said Papa John’s President and CEO Steve Ritchie. “The addition of Karlin as Global Chief Marketing Officer is one of the many significant steps we’ve taken to improve our brand differentiation, which includes enhancing our quality positioning in the category. Karlin’s combined restaurant, franchise and consumer brand experience make him an excellent addition to the Papa John’s leadership team.”

Mr. Linhardt’s QSR experience includes 10 years at McDonald’s, where he led initiatives that were critical to the brand’s turnaround, including kids & family (Happy Meals), value (Dollar Menu) and premium burger products (Big Mac, Quarter Pounder). He has led strategic business and marketing efforts across multiple brand categories that include restaurant, retail, consumer packaged goods, media, sports marketing and entertainment. Mr. Linhardt has also led partnerships with world-class brands such as Disney, Walmart and Coca-Cola, and served on the Board of Directors for Perkins & Marie Callender’s Restaurants for seven years.

“Strong marketing leadership is critical to driving the success of our brand and our business,” said Bo Knapp, Papa John’s Franchise Advisory Council Marketing Committee Chairman. “Karlin appreciates the important role franchisees play in the organization and understands the needs of the franchise system. I welcome him to Papa John’s and look forward to working closely with him in his new role.”

“I am excited to join Papa John’s and begin working with the talented leadership and marketing teams to build upon the work underway,” said Mr. Linhardt. “I’m a fan of Papa John’s high-quality product and I look forward to helping tell that quality story to customers in new ways.”

About Papa John's

Headquartered in Louisville, Kentucky, Papa John's International, Inc. (NASDAQ: PZZA) is the world's third-largest pizza delivery company. In 2018, consumers rated Papa John’s No. 1 in product and service quality among national pizza chains in the American Customer Satisfaction Index (ACSI). For 17 of the past 19 years, consumers have rated Papa John's No. 1 in customer satisfaction among national pizza chains in the American Customer Satisfaction Index (ACSI). For more information about the company or to order pizza online, visit Papa John's at www.papajohns.com.