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Discounted pizzas and financial aid for franchisees aren't doing much to curb Papa John's sales woes.

According to recent checks by Stifel, Papa John's same-store sales remain under pressure in the third quarter and, if they do not improve, store closures won't be far behind.

In July, same-store sales at the beleaguered pizza chain plunged 10.5 percent after it came to light that Papa John's founder had used a racially charged slur on a conference call. That trend continued in August.

So far in the third quarter, same-store sales are estimated to be down 10 to 11 percent, according to analyst Chris O'Cull.

"We are surprised the company's aggressive promotions the past several weeks have not curtailed the sales declines and we believe if the trend persists that it could lead to accelerating store closures during the next six months," O'Cull wrote in a research note Thursday.

O'Cull predicts that between 150 and 250 restaurants in noncore markets, the West Coast and Northeast, could be in danger of shuttering if Papa John's is unable to reignite its sales.

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http://www.msn.com/en-us/money/companies...0c3C?ocid=ientp

The article attributes Papa John's problems to the phony and ginned up charge the "founder had used a racially charged slur on a conference call." Maybe. But I wonder if a greater problem isn't the pizza market is just totally saturated. I know it is in my little area of the world. There are pizza joints everywhere and yet another just opened here 2 days ago. I don't claim to know that's it but with so many choices perhaps consumers are disenchanted with Papa John's, which is an ok pizza, but not outstanding.