Papa John's International, Inc. (PZZA)

Pizza chain: restaurants, commissaries and corporate counted. Read October 19, 2026 from the annual report for the period ending December 28, 2025, filed February 26, 2026. Ranked 161 of the 184 Consumer Cyclical companies read so far, by the share within reach now.

The filing counts its 9,400 by kind of work, restaurant team members and managers, QC Center team members and corporate personnel, so each stated count takes its own pattern and franchisees' crews stay out.

The figures on this page come from the company's own annual report and from BLS staffing patterns for its industries, never from a roster. They are estimates with a stated method. Nothing here says what the company will do: within reach is not a forecast of jobs lost or of savings.

What follows from the reading

Share of working time within reach of AI, on the long-run pace at four in five: 13% now, 18% at the end of 2027, 19% at the end of 2028, 19% at the end of 2030. By the patterns, the work is about 19% desk work, 21% people work and 59% body work. These are the site's industry estimates weighted by the shares below: estimates with a stated method and range, not a forecast of what the company will do. By the same patterns, at the end of 2028 about 80% of the working time stays with people (conversation, in-person and hands-on work), 14% becomes checking a model's work and 5% could be handed over with lighter checks, from the industries' own figures, not the company's roles.

Headcount

9,400 employees as of December 28, 2025 (stated). Not stated: the filing counts by kind of work, not by country; the International segment is 8% of revenue.

The filing: “As of December 28, 2025, we employed approximately 9,400 persons, of whom approximately 7,000 were team members at Company-owned restaurants, approximately 500 were management personnel at Company-owned restaurants, approximately 700 were corporate personnel and approximately 1,200 were QC Center team members.”

The workforce as industry patterns

What the filing says about the workforce: Approximately 9,400 persons as of December 28, 2025: 7,000 restaurant team members, 500 restaurant management, 700 corporate, 1,200 QC Center team members; non-unionized; most restaurant team members work part-time and are paid hourly; the Papa Johns system including franchisees and their team members is estimated at approximately 89,700.

Companies read with the same leading pattern

Other companies whose largest staffing pattern is also Restaurants and Other Eating Places, largest first, each read from its own annual report. Within reach now and at the end of 2028, long-run pace, four in five.

• Starbucks (SBUX, 381,000 employees)11% now, 14% by 2028
• Yum China Holdings, Inc. (YUMC, 290,000 employees)11% now, 14% by 2028
• Darden (DRI, 209,931 employees)11% now, 13% by 2028
• McDonald's Corporation (MCD, 150,000 employees)11% now, 13% by 2028
• Chipotle Mexican Grill, Inc. (CMG, 130,301 employees)11% now, 14% by 2028
• Texas Roadhouse, Inc. (TXRH, 101,000 employees)11% now, 14% by 2028
• Brinker International, Inc. (EAT, 85,003 employees)11% now, 14% by 2028
• Cracker Barrel Old Country Store (CBRL, 74,500 employees)11% now, 14% by 2028

What the filing says about AI

8 sentences in the filing name AI. The filing names AI as a regulatory risk (emerging laws governing its use), as a channel through which negative information about the company could spread, and as a technology advance in digital ordering and autonomous delivery that could affect its market position.

• “Similarly, emerging regulations and laws governing the use of artificial intelligence may adversely impact our use of these technologies.”
• “The dissemination of proprietary Company or negative information, whether or not accurate, by customers, employees, social media influencers, artificial intelligence, and others via social media could harm our business, brand, reputation, marketing partners, financial condition, and results of operations, regardless of the information's accuracy.”
• “Advances in technologies such as artificial intelligence or alternative methods of delivery, including advances in digital ordering technology and autonomous vehicle delivery, or certain changes in consumer behavior driven by these or other technologies and methods of delivery could have a negative effect on our business and market position.”
• “The implementation and use of artificial intelligence technologies also present various risks and uncertainties, and failure to incorporate artificial intelligence technologies into our business as successfully as our competitors could adversely impact us, as could any deficiencies, unreliability or other failures of artificial intelligence systems, which could subject us to competitive harm, r...”
• “There is also no guarantee that our investment in these technologies, including artificial intelligence and alternative methods of delivery, will deliver better business results, positive consumer experiences, or an adequate return on investment for the Company.”

Its annual reports, year by year

Sentences naming AI in each annual report, counted by one rule, beside the median report in the Index that year. Each count links its filing. Every company, by year and sector

• Fiscal 20210median 0
• Fiscal 20220median 0
• Fiscal 20232median 1
• Fiscal 20245median 4
• Fiscal 20258median 10

Headcount by filing year

As reported in each year's annual report, with the filing. A year marked not read had no figure the reading could take from the report's text.

Limits of this reading

• The U.S. share is not stated.
• Franchisees' employees, about 80,300 of the 89,700 in the system, are not the company's employees and are not counted (rule 8).

Source: the company's annual report on EDGAR, accession 0001628280-26-011965, the filing. Read by Claude Fable 5.1 under rubric version 1, by the method. A company can write to info@stratussc.com to have its reading checked against its filing.