Papa John's opens its first restaurant in the Dominican Republic

[jaguarbob]

A pizza mediano was 360, Presidente light 80 pesos. The waitress was OK and the service was adequate. I gave the waitress a 50 peso tip which brought the entire outing to about 600 pesos, almost $17 US.

Unh unh. If I get a pizza craving, for 200 pesos I can get two Pizarelli slices that are about as big as the very small six slice Papa John's pizza mediano.

The pizza was very good but at those prices I won't be back anytime soon either.

stopped there today,had a burger in burger king,but noticed Papa Johns was filled to the rafters with families....all tables were full,as was burger king...
most were Dominican families,and young people,I was only gringo in there...so I guess they will do ok...
also noticed quiznos sign up the street on Lincoln also....
that will do good as well...
bob

 

[Mason3000]

"Mason, the only reason that they opened the Burger King next to the Papa John's is because the Turull family has exclusive BK franchise rights for the entire DR territory and they did the same when negotiating with Papa John's for franchise rights.....they've done pretty well for themselves by following that model."

I'm no expert on fast food franchises, but In other Latin countries they always have Burger King/Papa Johns side by side. Usually you call Burger King for delivery and you have to specify it's Papa Johns you want and then they pass you over. They share ownership/rent/delivery costs.

On that same note, once the new Quiznos opens up the street and gets into the black, don't be surprised to see a place called Teriyaki open next to it. Same formula.

In that area I like 'Spoon' a lot.

 

[Mason3000]

Speaking of fast food franchises, I'd like to get the franchise for a 'Denny's' and put it right out by the Quality Hotel near the airport. Cha-ching!!!

 

[Funnyyale26]

I always ask myself why in the world expats, that are already aware of how bad the franchises from the US are, go to spend the money on food they know they won't like. There are so many great books the best master chefs and bakers at amazon, easy stuff. You can prepare your own bread, your own pizza dough, your own good, natural sauce, great, fresh mozzarella in your own home. Why go through this?

 

[rubio_higuey]

I always ask myself why in the world expats, that are already aware of how bad the franchises from the US are, go to spend the money on food they know they won't like. There are so many great books the best master chefs and bakers at amazon, easy stuff. You can prepare your own bread, your own pizza dough, your own good, natural sauce, great, fresh mozzarella in your own home. Why go through this?

A friend of mine who is a director of maintenance in one of Bavaro hotels was lucky enough to have a chef teach him how to do a real Italian style pizza, including excellent sauce.

Now every now and then, we have a pizza feast (ham, pepperoni, corn, bacon, mushrooms) with fresh mozarella cheese for about 700 pesos, and we make'n'bake about 8 medium-to-large pizzas (thin crust we like) for that.

 

[rubio_higuey]

The only thing is that Starbucks doesn't utilize the franchise concept, but who knows what the next few years might hold....

Not true anymore. They did not before. They do now.

 

[Mason3000]

A few pizza thoughts.....

* Always order "extra sauce". It doesn't actually cost extra and pizzas in Latin America are always dry.

* Classic Italian thin crust in a brick oven is the best.

* If it's American style pizza you want go to PriceSmart. They serve the closest thing you'll find here to New York style pizza, the pizzas are very s big (18") and they're cheap ($360?) for one of those monsters. Well worth a to-go order once in a while.

 

[Mariposazul]

Hey, do they have their peppers and butter/oil sauces?!?!?!

I heard there is one coming to Santiago's new giant plaza near Claro???

 

[Mariposazul]

Nobody knows??

 

[RacerX]

Domino's sales per store are less than Pizza Hut's or Pizzarelli or any other pizza chain. But, of course, there are more Domino's stores than any other pizza franchise.

Similar to the Burger King / McDonald's ordeal. BK has many more stores but per store revenue is less than the much scarcer McDonald's. Albeit, the lackluster expansion of McDonald's has more to do with local mismanagement more than anything else. In fact, unlike BK whose franchise rights in the DR is owned by one company for the entire country, McDonald's decided to limit the initial franchise territory encompassing the entire country to the Santo Domingo market. The local franchisee was underestimating the market outside SD and overestimating the SD market. Now McDonald's in the DR is operated by three different companies, one owns the SD restaurants, another owns the one's in the east (San Pedro and possible new store to open in PC), and another one owns the restaurants in the north. So far, the Cibao McDonald's are the best run.

Sad, they got a "whopping" (pun intended) from the BK folks despite McD's being a million times better IMO. The BK folks also got the Dominican franchise rights for Papa John's as well. :cheeky:

-NALs

I d say this is because McDonalds in headquArtered in Chicago while Burger King is headquartered in Miami. There are already many Spanish speaking representatives of BK in all levels of management who could go into the Caribbean and South America to develop new markets while McDonalds would have to recruit a marketing firm that specialized in Spanish language markets.

 

[johnnj2000]

In the plaza mall in santiago , there was a new restaurant grand opening, with all the looks of a hollywood primere opening !!! all the elite from santiago were there by invitation , free food and drinks , flood lights lighting up the sky , middle of the plaza court was all decorated with furniture and outside bars and waiters , I was there I met the president Ken from texas , it was Tony Romas restaurant chain .

 

[NALs]

I d say this is because McDonalds in headquArtered in Chicago while Burger King is headquartered in Miami. There are already many Spanish speaking representatives of BK in all levels of management who could go into the Caribbean and South America to develop new markets while McDonalds would have to recruit a marketing firm that specialized in Spanish language markets.

I say that if someone doesn't know what they are talking about, they should remain quiet. :classic:

Why?

Your explanation doesn't explains the presence of McDonald's in other Latin American markets. Take Guatemala as an example. The franchisee has 27 McCafes and over 50 McDonald's restaurants in an economy that is smaller than the DR's.

 

[RacerX]

I say that if someone doesn't know what they are talking about, they should remain quiet. :classic:

Why?

Your explanation doesn't explains the presence of McDonald's in other Latin American markets. Take Guatemala as an example. The franchisee has 27 McCafes and over 50 McDonald's restaurants in an economy that is smaller than the DR's.

What are you talking about? Who is talking about Guatemala? Didnt someone question why there are more BKs HERE than McDonalds? Didnt I suggest that it may have been easier to chew the fat and get franchise agreement penned with people who live in Miami vs. those in Chicago who happen to articulate the same language? ANd if not, its a 2 hour flight to MIA from SDQ, you can do that 3 times a day to wrap up affairs, especially exclusivity

And speaking of which, who owns those McDonalds? Possibly all owned by the same guy? And if the economy is smaller there may be less interference he is getting from Chicago in menu items and special offers. To their concern all that is important is 100% market domination.

For the dude who never had Papa Johns, you re not missing much. Same doughy slop at Pizza Hut, Dominos and Little Caesars.
I d like to see a Taco Bell or a Boston Market.

 

[RacerX]

In the plaza mall in santiago , there was a new restaurant grand opening, with all the looks of a hollywood primere opening !!! all the elite from santiago were there by invitation , free food and drinks , flood lights lighting up the sky , middle of the plaza court was all decorated with furniture and outside bars and waiters , I was there I met the president Ken from texas , it was Tony Romas restaurant chain .

Not Plaza Intl, it was Bella Vista Mall, about 3 blocks west of PI, across from Verizon(@ Sadhala). Yea it was a VIP affair there. Well see how it is by the end of the year.

 

[NALs]

What are you talking about? Who is talking about Guatemala? Didnt someone question why there are more BKs HERE than McDonalds? Didnt I suggest that it may have been easier to chew the fat and get franchise agreement penned with people who live in Miami vs. those in Chicago who happen to articulate the same language? ANd if not, its a 2 hour flight to MIA from SDQ, you can do that 3 times a day to wrap up affairs, especially exclusivity

And speaking of which, who owns those McDonalds? Possibly all owned by the same guy? And if the economy is smaller there may be less interference he is getting from Chicago in menu items and special offers. To their concern all that is important is 100% market domination.

The question should be what you are talking about. Last time I checked, Guatemala is a Spanish speaking country, the same with the rest of Central America, Mexico, Colombia, Per?, Chile, Argentina, etc.; all with McDonald's restaurants.

Why would Spanish-speaking DR be given a harder time?

The answer is that it wasn't given a harder time, the original franchisee didn't kept the agreed upon growth plans, which resulted in the DR being split into three franchise markets with the original franchisee being restricted to SD for development. This is not speculation, this is what actually happened; hence my comment that if you don't know what you are talking about, maybe its best to remain quiet.

 

[NALs]

Then I won't waste my time searching out a Papa Johns.

But yes, I would like to see Taco Bell here. The local Taco Tuesday's will have to fill the void until that time.

Or you can head to Santiago and satisfy your Taco Bell 'urge' sooner than later.