By Dhirendra Tripathi

Investing.com – Papa John’s stock (NASDAQ:) rose 1.5% on Wednesday as the pizza chain signed the largest franchisee deal in its more than 36-year-old history.

Sun Holdings, which will manage the opening of 100 stores in Texas between 2029 and 2029 under the terms of this deal, was named as the exclusive agent.

Sun Holdings, a Dallas company that is based in Texas, supports over 1,000 locations in 12 states. Papa John’s is the world’s third-largest pizza delivery company with more than 5,500 restaurants in 49 countries.

This is the second major development deal Papa John’s has announced this quarter. Under a deal announced on August 5, the company said Drake Food Service, its largest franchisee, will open over 220 Papa John’s restaurants by 2025. DFSI has more than 280 outlets in Latin America, Spain, and Portugal.

As part of that agreement, DFSI plans to open 50 new restaurants in the U.K. over four years, where it recently purchased over 60 Papa John’s restaurants in London. As per the expanded deal, DFSI will operate more than 560 Papa John’s restaurants in total by 2025.

Papa John’s revenue in the first six months of the current financial year was $1.02 billion, up 18% from last year.