Signage is displayed outside a Papa John's International pizza restaurant in Louisville, Kentucky. Luke Sharrett | Bloomberg | Getty Images

It's been a challenging year for Papa John's. Public scandals surrounding its founder and a massive decline in same-store sales have pressured the company into making major changes to its marketing strategy and rethink how to lure customers back to its restaurants. Papa John's latest attempt to rekindle sales is a revamp of its rewards program. On Monday the company said its loyalty members will now earn 1 point for every dollar spent at the chain, instead of 1 point for every $5 spent. These points can be earned through online, mobile, phone or in-store orders. For every 75 points customers collect, they will earning $10 worth of "Papa Dough," which they can put toward future orders.

Competitor Domino's has been able to drive massive sales growth with its "Piece of the Pie Rewards" loyalty program over the last few years. The platform rewards diners with a free pizza after six purchases of $10 or more from the company. Time will tell if Papa John's can generate similar sales momentum. The pizza chain has continued to struggle to regain sales after its founder, John Schnatter, started a very public feud with the company after he was forced to step down as chairman in July after it was revealed that he had used the N-word on a conference call in May. That incident, and another the prior year where he criticized the National Football League for not stopping player protests during the national anthem, has chased customers away. The pizza chain's same-store sales in July took a 10.5 percent hit and that sales slump continued in the months that followed. Same-store sales in the third quarter were down 9.8 percent across all North American locations.

CEO Steve Ritchie said in early November that September sales had improved compared with those in July and August, due, in part, to its new "Voices" ad campaign, which replaced Schnatter's image with other faces from within the company. However, the company is still projected to have negative sales growth through the second quarter of 2019.