Papa John's International, Inc. (NASDAQ: PZZA) today announced that systemwide comparable sales for the five weeks ended July 1, 2001 were flat, composed of a 4.3% decrease at company-owned restaurants and a 1.6% increase at franchised units. Systemwide comparable sales for the second quarter ended July 1, 2001 decreased 1.7%, composed of a 4.8% decrease at company-owned restaurants and a 0.5% decrease at franchised units. Year-to-date systemwide comparable sales increased 1.4%, composed of a 0.6% decrease at company-owned restaurants and a 2.2% increase at franchised units. Total systemwide international sales increased 25.4% for the five-week period, 26.7% for the second quarter, and 26.5% year-to-date on a constant U.S. dollar basis, over the comparable periods last year.

The company cited several factors which negatively impacted second quarter comparable sales results: the timing of Papa John's national Anniversary promotion, which ran during the first quarter this year versus the second quarter last year; significantly lower advertising spending during the quarter compared to the same period last year; and a decline in both traffic and sales in the pizza category during the quarter.

Rising market costs for cheese during the second quarter were mitigated by the fixed price of cheese to Papa John's restaurants established at the beginning of the quarter. However, the company expects substantially higher cheese prices to its system for the remainder of 2001.

With the relatively low cheese price, lower advertising spending and lower than anticipated general and administrative spending during the quarter, the company announced that, despite soft comparable sales results, it expects earnings per share results for the quarter to be at or above the upper end of its previously announced range of $0.46 - $0.53.

Second quarter results will be released before the market opens Monday, July 30, 2001; a conference call will be held at 1 PM eastern daylight time that day to discuss second quarter results and the company's outlook for the remainder of 2001.

At July 11, 2001, there were 2,691 Papa John's restaurants (649 company-owned and 2,042 franchised) operating in 49 states and ten international markets. Papa John's also owns or franchises 198 Perfect Pizza restaurants (3 company-owned and 195 franchised) in the United Kingdom. For more information about the company, visit Papa John's at http://www.papajohns.com.