{"id":1813798,"date":"2026-08-28T10:24:22","date_gmt":"2026-08-28T08:24:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lexpress-franchise.com\/en-us\/news\/papa-johns-transfers-28-orlando-restaurants-to-franchisee-wade-oney\/"},"modified":"2026-08-28T09:36:10","modified_gmt":"2026-08-28T07:36:10","slug":"papa-johns-transfers-28-orlando-restaurants-to-franchisee-wade-oney","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lexpress-franchise.com\/en-us\/news\/papa-johns-transfers-28-orlando-restaurants-to-franchisee-wade-oney\/","title":{"rendered":"Papa Johns Transfers 28 Orlando Restaurants to Franchisee Wade Oney"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Papa John’s International transferred 28 corporate-owned restaurants in the greater Orlando area to established franchisee<\/a> Wade Oney on August 25, 2026, advancing the brand’s multi-year refranchising initiative. Oney and his franchise organizations, which opened 10 new locations across Central and South Florida in 2025, now operate more than 120 Papa Johns restaurants in the Southeast United States.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Papa Johns<\/strong> (Nasdaq: PZZA), the third-largest pizza delivery franchise<\/a> globally with approximately 6,000<\/strong> restaurants in roughly 50<\/strong> countries and territories, has been systematically reducing its corporate-owned store count in recent years, redirecting capital toward brand infrastructure and franchisee support. The 28<\/strong> Orlando-area restaurants, previously operated by Papa Johns USA, Inc., passed to two Oney-controlled entities: PZZA Group, LLC<\/strong> and Magic City Pizzerias, LLC<\/strong>. Financial terms of the transaction were not disclosed.<\/p>\n\n\n

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Papa Johns<\/p>\n <\/a>\n

Better Ingredients. Better Pizza.<\/p>\n <\/div>\n

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  • \n <\/path><\/svg> <\/span>Restaurant <\/li>\n
  • \n <\/path><\/path><\/svg> <\/span>Not disclosed <\/li>\n
  • \n <\/path><\/svg> <\/span>Liquid capital: $Not disclosed <\/li>\n <\/ul>\n <\/div>\n I want more info<\/a>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n
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    From Crew Member to Multi-Unit Leader<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

    Wade Oney<\/strong>‘s connection to the pizza industry stretches back to 1981<\/strong>, when he first started working at a pizza restaurant. Over the following decades, he rose through management to hold senior roles at some of the world’s largest pizza companies, including six years as Chief Operations Officer at Papa Johns, a tenure during which the brand’s system expanded past 2,000<\/strong> restaurants. Since transitioning to the franchisee side of the business, Oney has been named Franchisee of the Year multiple times by Papa Johns and was inducted into the brand’s Hall of Fame. Earlier in 2026, Multi-Unit Franchisee magazine honored him with the Spirit of Franchising MVP Award.<\/p>\n\n\n

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    Wade and his team have long stood as a leading example to other franchise partners of operational excellence, customer service, team culture and community support<\/blockquote><\/div>

    A QUOTE FROM<\/p>

    John Matter<\/p>

    Global Chief Development Officer, Papa Johns<\/p><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>\n\n\n

    28 Refranchised Stores Added to an Expanding Portfolio<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

    The Orlando transaction follows active growth for Oney’s franchise organizations in 2025, when they opened 10<\/strong> new Papa Johns locations across Central and South Florida. The addition of the 28<\/strong> refranchised corporate stores brings his total portfolio to more than 120<\/strong> units. The two acquiring entities, PZZA Group, LLC and Magic City Pizzerias, LLC, join three other Oney-operated organizations (Bam-Bam Pizza, Inc., Oney Bayside, LLC, and Coastal City Pizza, LLC) that together make up one of the brand’s largest multi-unit footprints in the Southeast. No details on the purchase price were made public.<\/p>\n\n\n

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    Over my 35 years as part of the Papa Johns family, I’ve learned how the brand offers a great place to work, equips franchisees to grow, and overall, presents a solid investment opportunity depending on economic times and how well you operate and take care of the customer. We’re excited to expand our portfolio of Papa Johns restaurants and look forward to serving even more customers in Central Florida.<\/blockquote><\/div>

    A QUOTE FROM<\/p>

    Wade Oney<\/p>

    Operating owner, PZZA Group LLC and Magic City Pizzerias LLC<\/p><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>\n\n\n

    Refranchising as a Capital Strategy for QSR Brands<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

    The shift of corporate stores to franchisee ownership is a widely used approach across the quick-service restaurant sector. For the parent company, the model allows resources to be directed toward brand development, technology, and national marketing while established operators handle local execution. Papa Johns has described the strategy as a deliberate effort to partner with franchisees who have demonstrated operational track records rather than maintaining a large corporate store footprint. The Orlando transfer, involving a franchisee with decades of experience and multiple industry recognitions, reflects that stated approach. Papa Johns has not publicly specified a target ratio for franchised versus company-owned stores.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    This content is provided for informational purposes only and does not constitute legal, tax, financial, or professional advice. Laws and regulations vary by state and individual circumstances and may change over time. Readers should consult a qualified attorney, tax professional, or other licensed professional regarding their specific situation. Nothing herein creates an attorney-client relationship.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    Papa John’s International transferred 28 corporate-owned restaurants in the greater Orlando area to established franchisee Wade Oney on August 25, 2026, advancing the brand’s multi-year refranchising initiative. Oney and his franchise organizations, which opened 10 new locations across Central and South Florida in 2025, now operate more than 120 Papa Johns restaurants in the Southeast […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":788,"featured_media":1813802,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_seopress_titles_title":"Papa Johns Refranchises 28 Orlando Stores to Wade Oney","_seopress_titles_desc":"Papa Johns transferred 28 Orlando restaurants to franchisee Wade Oney, bringing his Southeast portfolio to 120+ locations.","_seopress_robots_index":"","_seopress_robots_follow":"","_seopress_robots_imageindex":"","_seopress_robots_snippet":"","_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"","_seopress_robots_breadcrumbs":"","_seopress_robots_freeze_modified_date":"","_seopress_robots_custom_modified_date":"","_seopress_robots_canonical":"","_seopress_social_fb_title":"","_seopress_social_fb_desc":"","_seopress_social_fb_img":"","_seopress_social_fb_img_attachment_id":0,"_seopress_social_fb_img_width":0,"_seopress_social_fb_img_height":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_title":"","_seopress_social_twitter_desc":"","_seopress_social_twitter_img":"","_seopress_social_twitter_img_attachment_id":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_img_width":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_img_height":0,"_seopress_redirections_value":"","_seopress_redirections_enabled":"","_seopress_redirections_enabled_regex":"","_seopress_redirections_logged_status":"","_seopress_redirections_param":"","_seopress_redirections_type":0,"_seopress_analysis_target_kw":"","_seopress_news_disabled":"","_seopress_video_disabled":"","_seopress_video":[],"_seopress_pro_schemas_manual":[],"_seopress_pro_rich_snippets_disable_all":"","_seopress_pro_rich_snippets_disable":[],"_seopress_pro_schemas":[],"content-type":"","_relevanssi_hide_post":"","_relevanssi_hide_content":"","_relevanssi_pin_for_all":"","_relevanssi_pin_keywords":"","_relevanssi_unpin_keywords":"","_relevanssi_related_keywords":"","_relevanssi_related_include_ids":"","_relevanssi_related_exclude_ids":"","_relevanssi_related_no_append":"","_relevanssi_related_not_related":"","_relevanssi_related_posts":"1783372,1794212,1783346,1779957,1626065,1762024","_relevanssi_noindex_reason":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[3594],"tags":[],"type-de-post":[2066],"class_list":["post-1813798","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-franchise-networks","type-de-post-articles-actualite"],"acf":[],"permalink_manager":null,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lexpress-franchise.com\/en-us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1813798","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lexpress-franchise.com\/en-us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lexpress-franchise.com\/en-us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lexpress-franchise.com\/en-us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/788"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lexpress-franchise.com\/en-us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1813798"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/lexpress-franchise.com\/en-us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1813798\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1813847,"href":"https:\/\/lexpress-franchise.com\/en-us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1813798\/revisions\/1813847"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lexpress-franchise.com\/en-us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1813802"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lexpress-franchise.com\/en-us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1813798"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lexpress-franchise.com\/en-us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1813798"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lexpress-franchise.com\/en-us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1813798"},{"taxonomy":"type-de-post","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lexpress-franchise.com\/en-us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/type-de-post?post=1813798"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}