Markets 
It’s dough-ver for another pizza icon.
A Papa Murphy’s franchisor has announced that up to 50 locations will close down after a performance review of the company’s lagging brands.
The Canadian franchisor and operator, MTY Group, said in an earnings call that 45 to 50 Papa Murphy’s spots will shut in the next six to nine months after just two short years of the company taking over. The popular spot is known for take-and-bake pizza, where customers buy ready-to-eat pizza in-store but then cook it themselves.
CEO and President of MTY Group, Eric Lefebvre, said the move is an attempt to unload underperforming locations as the selected spots have lost over $10 million, combined with its other brands, within the past 12 months.
“The decision will reduce our store count in the near term, but we believe it is the right long-term action for the business.” Lefebvre said. “It will allow us to reduce losses, improve the quality of the corporate store portfolio, and focus our resources on locations and brands with stronger return potential.”
Starting this week, stores will start the process of systematically closing down to help the staff, negotiate with landlords, and manage any distribution challenges that come up.
MTY Group also said that future shutters could be in the works.
“We’ve been slowly but gradually disposing of some stores where it makes sense for us,” Lefebvre said. “It’s not a fire sale, but we’re also in a process where we can reduce the corporate store portfolio.”
In addition to Papa Murphy’s, MTY has a massive portfolio including Wetzel’s Pretzels, Cold Stone Creamery, Pinkberry and Baja Fresh, to name a few. And closures to these other brands might be off the hook.
“Papa Murphy’s, certainly in the US, has been struggling more than our other brands as of recent. So that’s a significant weight on QSR,” Lefebvre said. “We have some other brands also that have been exposed, where we have various initiatives that are coming, but nothing of the magnitude of the struggles we have with Papa Murphy’s.”
The struggling take-home pizza joint has faced a slew of closures in recent years as store count fell from 1,168 in 2023 to 1,014 in 2025. However, most were franchised units, according to the chain’s franchise disclosure document.
Papa Murphy’s sells customizable pizzas where guests personalize their pies by picking toppings, sauces and crusts uncooked.
The customer then takes the pizza home and cooks it themself. The company has baking instructions on its website.
The take-and-bake chain isn’t the only pizza brand saying “Mamma mia!” Mountain Mike’s Pizza operator filed for bankruptcy after its debts hit between $1 million and $10 million. Earlier this year, Mountain Mike’s was ranked as the sixth-most overpriced pizza chain in the US.
Back in February, Papa John’s announced that hundreds of underperforming locations would be forced to close by the end of 2027. The locations are primarily franchise-owned, over a decade old and only make about $600,000 or less in annual sales volume.
Another giant in the game, Pizza Hut, announced earlier this year that it would close 250 locations after its parent company finishes a review of the business. And it warned that the chain could even be sold off.
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