Kamal Ghorui
Instead of the economy, social media trolls target the Indian-origin CFO after Papa Johns announced the closure of hundreds of pizza shops following a tough quarter. During Thursday’s earnings call, the company announced that it would close 300 underperforming restaurants in North America by the end of 2027. Thanawala issued a statement and said the affected restaurants are not meeting the brand expectations but social media backlashes all targeted him because of his race. The affected restaurants are those “not meeting brand expectations or lack a clear path to sustainable financial improvement, as well as locations where we can effectively transfer sales to a nearby restaurant,” Thanawala, who is also the president of the chain’s North America operations, said.“Put Indian in charge of Finances. Company starts going belly up. Everything they touch turns to s**t,” one hate comment said. “Hire a J**t, your company can’t compete,” another wrote. “I wonder how many fake degrees he bought to get that position,” a third user wrote.“Called the local PJ’s the other day. It’s been open about 7-8 months. Was going to do a take out on way home. Wanted to know how long was the wait for a carry out. Had to hit the keypad 4-5 times before I got a person. Was not a native English speaker. Sounded India. I hung up,” a customer wrote.In November 2025, Thanawala was promoted to the dual role in Papa Johns as the CFO was made the president of the company’s North American business. Thanawala joined Papa Johns as CFO in 2023 and was promoted to CFO and EVP, International in 2024. He served as the Company’s Interim CEO from March 2024 to August 2024. Thanawala has a long successful career before joining Papa Johns. He served as the CFO of Nike North America. Prior to Nike, Thanawala spent eight years at ANN, led ANN’s Asia operations, global logistics and international trade based in Hong Kong; and eventually became CFO of the ANN business, a subsidiary of Ascena Retail Group.
