Instead of the economy, social media trolls targeted the Indian-origin CFO after Papa John’s announced the closure of hundreds of pizza stores after a difficult quarter. During an earnings call on Thursday, the company announced it would close 300 underperforming restaurants in North America by the end of 2027.
Thanwala issued a statement saying the affected restaurants did not meet the brand’s expectations, but the backlash on social media all targeted him because of his race. Affected restaurants are those “that are not meeting brand expectations or lack a clear path to sustainable financial improvement, as well as locations where we can effectively move sales to a nearby restaurant,” said Thanawala, who is also president of the chain’s North American operations.
One hate comment said: “Put an Indian in charge of finance. The company starts to collapse. Everything they touch turns bad.” “Hire someone, your company can’t compete,” another wrote. “I wonder how many fake degrees he bought to get this position,” a third user wrote.“Called my local PJ’s a few days ago. It’s been open for about 7-8 months. I was going to pick it up outside on my way home. I wanted to know how long the wait was for it to be fulfilled.”
I had to hit the keyboard 4-5 times before I got a person. He was not a native English speaker. India looked. “I hung up,” one customer wrote.In November 2025, Thanawala was promoted to the dual role at Papa Johns as CFO named president of the company’s North American business. Thanwala joined Papa Johns as CFO in 2023 and was promoted to CFO and Executive Vice President International in 2024. He served as interim CEO of the company from March 2024 to August 2024. Thanwala had a long and successful career before joining Papa John’s. He served as CFO of Nike North America. Prior to joining Nike, Thanawala spent eight years at ANN, where he led ANN’s Asia operations, global logistics and international trade based in Hong Kong. He eventually became CFO of ANN, a subsidiary of Ascena Retail Group.
