Are Papa Johns locations closing across New Jersey?

Oh, we’ve got trouble, my friend

We’ve got trouble with a capital “T.”

That rhymes with “P.”

Which stands for pizza.

Maybe this isn’t “The Music Man”, but it is the pizza capital of the country. New Jersey is known for pizza arguably more than anything. So when national chains like Pizza Hut or Papa John's can even stay open against the fierce mom and pop pizza joint competition, that’s impressive.

SEE ALSO: The New Jersey Pizza Playoffs

But they’ve got trouble.

Of big chains, Domino’s is doing alright. The chain just reported a 3.7% increase in same-store sales for the fourth quarter. Impressive.

SEE ALSO: New Roman-style pizza joint opening in NJ

But losing ground is Pizza Hut and Papa Johns. Pizza Hut earlier this month announced it was closing around 250 locations across the country.

Now it’s being reported by CNN.com that Papa Johns is closing 200 underperforming North American locations this year and an additional 100 more will close next year. According to Papa John's CFO and North America president Ravi Thanawala the locations to close are ones that are ten or more years old and are generating negative income.

Will it hit New Jersey? The tension builds because we don’t yet know. I can tell you there were 3,523 Papa John's locations in just the United States alone at the end of last year. According to their website, there are 56 locations in New Jersey. That’s less than two percent of the total number so maybe they’ll be safe here.

But in a state where pizza is considered sacred and most of us scoff at chain pizza much more than the rest of the country, you do have to wonder.

Opinions expressed in the post above are those of New Jersey 101.5 talk show host Jeff Deminski only.

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