Tag: Papa John’s

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Schnatter dumps $7M more in Papa shares, including single-biggest trade since start of selling spree last month
John Schnatter
Schnatter

Papa John’s CEO John Schnatter has sold another big chunk of stock, according to a regulatory filing this afternoon, bringing to 411,050 shares the total he’s sold since announcing a special trading plan in early September under which he could sell up to 480,000 total.

Combined proceeds so far from all the sales, according to Securities and Exchange Commission filings: $32.2 million. (Table shows all the trades.)

Today’s SEC filing says Schnatter, who founded the company in 1984, sold 86,314 shares yesterday and Wednesday for prices averaging from $80.07 to $81.02 a share. The proceeds were $6.9 million, most of it from a single sale of 63,318 on Wednesday — the largest such block since Boulevard began tracking a wave of sales he started under the trading plan.

Papa John’s stock closed at $80.45 this afternoon, up 47 cents.

Company executives often adopt “10b5-1” trading plans, named for the SEC rule that governs insider trading. They are often approved by a company’s board of directors, and require an executive to sell a certain number of shares at fixed intervals to avoid any appearance they’re trading on inside information.

Latest Headlines

GE workers in strike authorization vote; after Hurricane Matthew, it was Papa John’s to the rescue; and Jack Daniel’s general store hits the road

A news summary focused on 10 big employers; updated 7:59 a.m.

GE APPLIANCES workers were to vote yesterday to authorize a strike as contract talks grew more contentious. The move comes about two months after GE Appliances began negotiating a new labor contract with IUE-CWA Local 83761, which represents about 4,000 rank-and-file workers at Louisville’s Appliance Park (WDRB).

PAPA JOHN’S: A man in Omaha, Neb., worried because he couldn’t reach his grandmother in Florida after Hurricane Matthew, turned to Papa John’s to find out whether she was OK. Eric Olsen said his grandmother Claire Olsen’s phone wasn’t working, and cops in Palm Coast, Fla., were “overwhelmed” when he asked them to check on her. Who else could he call in a city where he didn’t know anyone? Papa John’s. He ordered a pizza to be delivered to her house with instructions for the driver to call him on arrival. Some 30 minutes later, the pizza was there he knew she was OK. Delivery driver Lance Tyler described Claire’s expression as “just priceless.” (For her part, Claire told WFTV the pepperoni pizza was “fantastic”) (Fox News).

jack-daniels-150th-anniversary-whiskeyBROWN-FORMAN has opened the second of three elaborate pop-up Jack Daniel’s-themed “general stores”as part of the company’s ongoing 150th anniversary promotions of the brand. The latest is in Chicago six days ending Oct.22 following a stop in New York City. Next up: Miami. The installation includes local barbers; a virtual reality tour of the distillery in Lynchburg, Tenn., daytime concerts, plus Southern cooking (The Drum). Jack is the No. 1 brand at Brown-Forman, which employs 1,300 workers in Louisville and another 3,300 worldwide.

Latest Headlines

Papa John’s serves up ‘one of biggest’ launches, and Wall Street smacks its lips

A news summary focused on 10 big employers; updated 8:49 a.m.

PAPA JOHN’S: Calling it “one of its biggest product innovations in a decade,” the company has introduced a pan-style pizza with an even greater emphasis on fresh ingredients. “Made from fresh, never-frozen pan dough with no artificial preservatives,” the chain said yesterday in a news release, “this crust features seven simple ingredients — a signature blend of flour and extra virgin olive oil, cold-filtered water, sugar, salt, yeast and oil.”

papa-johns-pan-pizzaPapa John’s is promoting the new menu item with a specially designed black box, and a new advertising campaign featuring retired Denver Broncos quarterback Peyton Manning, NFL Defensive Player of the Year J.J. Watt, and CEO John Schnatter. (See, above.)

Wall Street liked the news. The company’s stock (PZZA) jumped 3%, closing yesterday at $78.10, up $2.25. The rally continued after hours, with shares rising another 15 to $79.06.

Cops and Courts

Iowa Papa John’s employee run over in parking lot by cellphone thief

The latest crime news across the world of 48,000 restaurants*.

Crime scene tapeA man ran over a Des Moines Papa John’s Pizza employee with his car in the restaurant’s parking lot after stealing another employee’s cellphone Sunday afternoon, according to a police report.

The victim of the hit-and-run told police he and a co-worker ran outside after seeing an unknown man in the passenger side of the co-worker’s car in the parking lot, according to the Des Moines Register. When the man saw the two employees running outside, he reportedly grabbed a cellphone out of the car and jumped into his own vehicle. The suspect locked his car’s doors, according to the report.

The the hit-and-run victim started pounding on the suspect’s car windows until the suspect put the car in reverse and ran over the victim’s legs.The victim sustained cuts and scrapes to his elbows and legs, the newspaper said.

Taco Bell

In Ohio’s Washington Township, two suspects robbed a Taco Bell restaurant of an undetermined amount of cash at gunpoint Monday night, according to police. No employees were hurt during the robbery, according to WDTN.

* Yum has 43,000 KFCs, Pizza Huts and Taco Bells in nearly 140 countries; Papa John’s has 4,900 outlets in 37 countries, and Texas Roadhouse has 485 restaurants across the U.S. and in five other nations. With that many locations, crimes inevitably occur — with potentially serious legal consequences for the companies.