The story
The chain of pizzerias traces its history back to 1981, when the Papa Aldo's Pizza chain was founded in Hillsboro, Oregon. Three years later, Murphy's Pizza chain began operating in Petaluma, California. Both chains were later acquired and consolidated by Terry Collins into Papa Murphy's. The chain was incorporated as Papa Murphy's International, Inc. In 2003, Papa Murphy's was voted "Best Pizza Chain in America" by Restaurants and Institutions magazine. The company was merged with PMI Holdings, Inc. in 2004.
In 2010, the chain sold out to Lee Equity Partners of New York City. Sales for the chain totaled $702 million in 2011, which grew to $800 million in 2012 from 1,350 outlets. Reuters reported in 2013 that Papa Murphy's New York parent, Lee Equity Partners, was preparing a public offering for the take-and-bake pizza chain. Official plans for the IPO were announced in March 2014.
Papa Murphy's (FRSH) was added to the Nasdaq May 2, 2014, raising $64.1 million in shares.
Following a loss in the third quarter of 2016, the company announced that it would launch its first national advertising campaign in 2017.
By 2017–2018, the franchisor was struggling, dipping in and out of losses and profitability. In May 2019, it was taken over by Canadian private food conglomerate MTY Food Group, and removed from the NASDAQ.In October 2022, Papa Murphy's was sued in a class action lawsuit alleging the company had been secretly wiretapping the private conversations of everyone who had communicated via the company's online chat feature.
In July 2026, MTY Food Group, announced plans to close between 45 and 50 underperforming corporate-owned locations over the following six to nine months. The restructuring followed a detailed performance review of the company's corporate-owned portfolio, which revealed that the selected locations had collectively generated over CAD 10 million in losses during the preceding 12 months. The closures primarily targeted corporate stores that MTY Food Group had repossessed two years prior in an unsuccessful turnaround attempt. This downsizing initiative reflects broader pizza industry trends in 2026, driven by rising operational costs and shifting consumer spending, which also prompted significant store rationalizations by competitors like Pizza Hut and Papa Johns.
From Wikipedia’s article on Papa Murphy's, shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.6