Papa Murphy's pizza chain to close up to 50 locations

Key Points:

• MTY Group, the Canadian franchisor of Papa Murphy’s, announced plans to close 45 to 50 underperforming Papa Murphy’s locations within the next six to nine months due to significant financial losses exceeding $10 million across its brands in the past year.
• The closures aim to reduce losses, improve the quality of the corporate store portfolio, and allow MTY to focus resources on more profitable locations and brands, with the process starting immediately to support staff and manage logistics.
• Papa Murphy’s has been struggling more than MTY’s other brands, with a notable decline in store count from 1,168 in 2023 to 1,014 in 2025, largely among franchised units, reflecting ongoing challenges in the take-and-bake pizza segment.
• Other pizza chains are facing similar difficulties, as Mountain Mike’s Pizza recently filed for bankruptcy due to significant debt, and Papa John’s announced plans to close hundreds of underperforming franchise locations by 2027.
• MTY Group’s portfolio includes other brands like Wetzel’s Pretzels and Cold Stone Creamery, but no similar large-scale closures are currently planned for these other brands, as Papa Murphy’s remains the most affected.