It is 1996. A guy named Steve Ritchie walks into a Papa Johns and starts answering phones and making pizzas for $6 an hour. Most people would’ve seen that as a summer gig or a stepping stone to a "real" career. Instead, Ritchie stayed for 23 years. He climbed every single rung of the ladder—from delivery driver to store manager, then franchisee, then COO, and finally, the guy sitting in the CEO chair.
But when he finally got the top job in early 2018, he didn’t get a honeymoon period. He got a front-row seat to one of the most chaotic corporate collapses in the history of fast food.
The Succession That No One Saw Coming
For years, John Schnatter was Papa Johns. His face was on the boxes. His voice was in the commercials. He was the "Papa." So, when Schnatter stepped down as CEO in late 2017—following his infamous comments blaming the NFL's national anthem protests for slumping pizza sales—everyone looked at Steve Ritchie.
Schnatter had handpicked him. He called Ritchie a "proven leader" and a "protege."
It looked like a passing of the torch from the founder to his most loyal student. Ritchie was a "pizza guy" through and through. He didn't come from Wall Street or some fancy McKinsey consulting background. He was an operator who knew exactly how many pepperoni slices belonged on a large pie. Honestly, it was supposed to be the ultimate corporate "underdog makes good" story.
Then the Forbes report dropped in July 2018.
The Summer of the Slur
When news broke that Schnatter had used a racial slur during a media training conference call, the company didn't just stumble; it fell off a cliff. The stock price tanked. Major sports teams started ripping down the Papa Johns logos in their stadiums. The University of Louisville removed the brand's name from its football field.
Suddenly, Steve Ritchie wasn't just managing a pizza chain. He was managing a nuclear meltdown.
Ritchie’s response was swift and, for many, surprisingly aggressive toward his former mentor. He issued an open letter apologizing to customers. He ordered mandatory bias training for the entire workforce. He even started the process of "scrubbing" Schnatter’s face from the marketing materials.
This is where the relationship between the two men turned into a public bloodbath.
The Feud: Protege vs. Founder
You've probably heard of "founder's syndrome," but this was something else entirely. Schnatter didn't just leave quietly. He launched a website called SavePapaJohns.com and started firing shots directly at Ritchie.
- Schnatter claimed Ritchie was "out of his depth."
- He alleged there was "rot at the top" and accused Ritchie’s inner circle of fostering a toxic culture.
- He even claimed he had intended to fire Ritchie months before the slur incident occurred.
The drama was wild. You had the founder of a multi-billion dollar company basically calling his successor a failure in real-time, while the successor was trying to convince the world that the brand was "more than just one person."
The Starboard Intervention
By early 2019, Papa Johns was bleeding cash. Same-store sales had dropped for five straight quarters. The company needed a lifeline, and it came in the form of a $200 million investment from Starboard Value, a hedge fund known for its aggressive turnaround of Olive Garden’s parent company.
This move basically signaled the beginning of the end for Ritchie’s tenure. Starboard brought in Jeff Smith as the new chairman. They brought in Shaquille O’Neal as a brand ambassador and board member to help fix the company’s image.
Ritchie stayed on for a few months during this "stabilization" period, but the writing was on the wall. The board wanted a fresh start. They didn't want the guy who was "handpicked" by the controversial founder, even if he had tried to distance himself.
In August 2019, Ritchie was out. He was replaced by Rob Lynch, who came over from Arby’s.
What Steve Ritchie Is Doing in 2026
So, where is he now? If you think he left the restaurant business, you’re wrong.
Basically, Ritchie went back to his roots. In late 2020, he and his wife Melissa founded Endeavor Restaurant Group based in Louisville. Instead of managing 5,000 global units, he’s back to the "hands-on" side of things.
His group now owns and operates several boutique and fast-casual brands, including:
- LouVino (a wine bar and restaurant concept).
- Big Bad Breakfast (partnership locations).
- Waldo’s Chicken & Beer.
Interestingly, Ritchie also branched out into the tech and gaming space. By 2023, he took on a role as the Chief Revenue Officer for Pavilion Payments, a company that handles financial integration for the gaming industry. It’s a weird pivot from pepperoni to fintech, but it shows he was looking for a total departure from the pizza drama.
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The Complexity of the Legacy
Was Steve Ritchie a "bad" CEO? It's not that simple.
Some analysts argue he was dealt an impossible hand. He inherited a brand tied to a controversial figurehead during a period of massive cultural sensitivity. He tried to modernize the tech stack and diversify the leadership team—hiring the company's first Chief Diversity Officer—but the "Papa" shadow was just too long.
On the flip side, critics (including Schnatter) argue that sales were already dipping before the scandal, suggesting that Ritchie’s operational expertise didn't necessarily translate into the strategic vision needed for a global CEO role.
Actionable Takeaways from the Ritchie Era
If you're a business leader or just someone following the corporate drama, there are a few real-world lessons here.
- Succession planning is more than just "picking a guy." Ritchie was the perfect operator, but he lacked the "firewall" needed to protect the company from the founder's personal brand risks.
- Distance is harder than it looks. Even when Ritchie aggressively moved to remove Schnatter’s image, the public still associated him with the old guard. If you're leading a turnaround, you often need an "outsider" perspective to gain true credibility.
- Operations vs. Strategy. Being a great "pizza guy" is vital for a manager, but at the CEO level, the job is 90% communication and perception management.
Steve Ritchie’s story is a reminder that the "American Dream" of rising from the bottom to the top is possible—it just doesn't always have a fairy-tale ending when the founder is still in the building.
To get a better sense of how the company changed after his departure, you can look into the 2019 Starboard Value investment or the Shaquille O'Neal marketing pivot, which officially closed the door on the Ritchie-Schnatter era.