Papa John’s founder John Schnatter will step down as the company's chief executive officer next month, about two months after he publicly criticized the NFL leadership over national anthem protests by football players — comments for which the company later apologized.

President and Chief Operating Officer Steve Ritchie will replace Schnatter on Jan. 1, the company announced Thursday. Schnatter, who appears in the chain’s commercials and on its pizza boxes, is the company’s biggest shareholder and will remain chairman of the board.

Earlier this year, Schnatter blamed slowing sales growth at Papa John’s — an NFL sponsor and advertiser — on the outcry surrounding players kneeling during the national anthem. Former San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick had kneeled during the national anthem to protest what he said was police mistreatment of black men, and other players started kneeling as well.

Background:Papa John slams NFL, blames national anthem protests for declining pizza sales

More on this:Papa John's condemns new customers: White supremacists

“The controversy is polarizing the customer, polarizing the country,” Schnatter said during a conference call about the company’s earnings on Nov. 1.

The company apologized two weeks later, after white supremacists praised Schnatter’s comments and crowned the brand as the official pizza of the alt-right.

The Louisville-based company quickly condemned racism and said it didn't want such groups buying its pizza. But an indelicate tweet published on the company's Twitter account said Papa John's drew more attention to the hate groups.

Saying the company would work with the NFL to find a positive way forward, the tweet added: "Open to ideas from all. Except neo-nazis — (a raised middle finger emoji) those guys."

Schnatter also ignited controversy in 2012 when he blamed the Affordable Care Act for forcing a 14-cent jump in the price of a pizza. He suggested that some franchise owners would have to cut workers' hours to avoid paying insurance costs — remarks that he said later were misconstrued.

Some critics weighing in on the NFL-related controversy suggested that the quality of the pizza — not the sponsorship or the advertising affiliations — accounted for sagging sales. Riffing on the Papa John slogan "better ingredients, better pizza," one headline read: "Crappy leadership, crappy pizza."

Ritchie declined to say Thursday if the NFL comments played a role in Schnatter stepping down, only saying that it’s “the right time to make this change.”

A phone message left for company spokesman Peter Collins was not returned Thursday afternoon.

Shares of Papa John’s are down about 13 percent since the day before the NFL comments were made, reducing the value of Schnatter’s stake in the company by nearly $84 million. Schnatter owns nearly 9.5 million shares of Papa John’s International Inc., and his total stake was valued at more than $560 million on Thursday, according to FactSet.

The company’s stock is down 30 percent since the beginning of the year.

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Schnatter, 56, founded Papa John’s more than three decades ago when he converted a broom closet at his father’s Jeffersonville tavern into a pizza spot. And it has since grown to more than 5,000 locations. Schnatter has also become the face of the company, showing up in TV ads with former football player Peyton Manning.

The company hasn’t decided if Schnatter will still be its spokesman, Ritchie said, adding that a decision will be made early next year.

The Papa John’s leadership change comes as the pizza chains that once dominated the fast-food delivery business face tougher competition from hamburger and fried-chicken chains that are expanding their delivery business. McDonald’s Corp., for example, expects to increase delivery from 5,000 of its nearly 14,000 U.S. locations by the end of the year.

In Louisville, McDonald's has begun promoting delivery via UberEats.

Ritchie said his focus as CEO will be making it easier for customers to order a Papa John’s pizza from anywhere. That’s a strategy that has worked for Domino’s, which takes orders from tweets, text messages and voice-activated devices, such as Amazon’s Echo. Papa John’s customers can order through Facebook and Apple TV, but Ritchie said he wants the chain to be everywhere customers are.

“The world is evolving and changing,” he said.

Ritchie, 43, began working at a Papa John’s restaurant 21 years ago, making pizzas and answering phones, the company said. He became a franchise owner in 2006 and owns nine locations. He was named chief operating officer three years ago. Ritchie said plans for him to succeed Schnatter were made after that.

This isn't the first time Schnatter has changed roles at the company. In 2014, he resumed the role of president after Tony Thompson announced he was leaving the chain for Krispy Kreme. That was the third time he had retaken the president's role after relinquishing it.

Ritchie was named president in 2015.

Grace Schneider: 502-582-4082; gschneider@courierjournal.com; Twitter: @gesinfk. Support strong local journalism by subscribing today: www.courier-journal.com/graces. Information was gathered by The Associated Press.