Popular fast food restaurant and Pizza Hut rival abruptly closes longtime location – see if your city is affected

A POPULAR fast-food restaurant has abruptly closed its doors, sending its former workers to the picket lines.

Cashiers, cooks, and delivery drivers are calling foul after the manager at a Lynwood, California Papa John’s informed them that they would lose their jobs with just a day’s notice.

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Jose de la Torre worked at the location for nearly four years, he told the San Gabriel Valley Tribune that the news caught everyone off guard.

“It was very sad,” he said. “Management said they would give us severance pay according to how long each of us worked here, but they only offered me one week.”

It’s unclear why Papa John’s – one of the biggest rivals to pizza tycoon, Pizza Hut – closed, said De la Torre.

However, the former employees are wondering why they weren’t transferred to other locations.

Workers said the picketing would continue until store management gives them an acceptable agreement on severance pay along with transfers to other Papa John’s locations.

According to Scrape Hero, there are more than 3,100 Papa John’s locations in the US – compared to the nearly 7,000 Pizza Huts in the country.

Papa John’s was founded in 1984 by “Papa” John Schnatter, who installed an oven inside a broom closet in the back of his father’s tavern in Jeffersonville, Indiana.

The news comes as several other pizza brands are going out of business, including Pizza Murphy’s – renowned for its take-and-bake service, but the company saw a dip in sales in 2022.

Franchisees closed 72 outlets amid the poor performance, Restaurant Business reported.

Eric Lefebvre, CEO of the chain’s parent company MTY Food Group, told analysts earlier this month: “We closed a lot of stores in 2022, unfortunately. The performance is not where we want it to be.”

Papa Murphy’s – a Papa John’s rival – was not immune from the financial pressures that gripped fast food chains last year.

Consumers felt a squeeze as inflation reached record highs and food prices soared.

But, Lefebvre revealed that the situation in 2023 is more positive for the popular pizza chain.

He said: “We’re feeling pretty good about where Papa Murphy’s is.”

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