I think that pizza in general, has taken less pricing than a lot of the other QSR segments. And I think as we — if we believe that there is going to be some consumer challenges over the mid to long term, Pizza is going to benefit from that. And so we have definitely worked really hard to balance that barbell of premium and value heading into 2024. And as evidenced by right now, we’re running a national promotion, which is $8.99 large one topping, which is the hottest deal we have run since I came to Papa John’s. We’ve never done anything like that. And so we’ve got a competitive category. We’ve got competitors out there with more scale than we do, who have been very aggressive on promoted pricing. And so we’re battling for transactions with them.
And so we have to have a good value prop out there. And I’ve always said that we do, given we’ve always had a low carryout special and other specials on our menu, but we’ve never nationally promoted them. So we’ve done that in the last couple of weeks and to battle for those transactions. But we’re not moving away from our strategy. I’ve always said we can’t beat our competitors by trying to be our competitors. So we will continue to deliver premium innovation that balances out the other side of that barbell, while we continue to evaluate our need and desire to launch — to fight for that value customer as well. So I feel like we’ve got a balanced strategy moving forward. I feel like we’ve been very competitive in Q1. And like I said earlier in the call, the full force of Back to Better 2.0 marketing initiatives, new agency, new media, 20% increase in national investment all hits in Q2 — so — and that continues throughout the balance of the year.
So I think we’re going to be right there being able to continue to be very competitive in this marketplace as — regardless of what the macroeconomic environment looks like.
Operator: Thank you. And ladies and gentlemen, that’s all the time we have for question-and-answer session. I will now turn the call back over to Mr. Rob Lynch for any closing remarks.
Rob Lynch: Well, thanks, everyone, for your time this morning and for your continued interest in Papa John’s. I think as you can see, we have continued to persevere through some challenging international environments. We have shifted some of our focus to driving our very profitable and accretive domestic development, and we’re very excited about the balance of 2024 and seeing the impact of the marketing and product initiatives that we have underway. So I look forward to speaking with you at our Annual Meeting of Shareholders on May 2 and then sharing our first quarter 2024 results with you as well. I’d also like to take this opportunity to thank our team members and franchisees. They continue to show unbelievable resiliency and agility during these unique times. So thank you, everyone.
Operator: Ladies and gentlemen, that does conclude the conference for today. Thank you for your participation. You may now disconnect.+
