Pizza delivery firm Papa John's today said it aims to create up to 3,000 jobs by 2013 in new stores as it revealed consumers looking for cheap meals had given it an "exceptional start" to 2009.

Papa John's, which operates 128 franchised and company-owned outlets across the UK and Ireland, said like-for-like sales were up 8.5% in the 13 weeks to the end of March as the poor economic environment changed people's eating habits and caused them to choose value options.

The firm said it had opened 10 new stores in the first quarter and was on course to meet its previously announced target of an extra 30 or 40 branches in the full year, which would create 1,200 new positions.

UK managing director Ian Saunders said consumers were looking to spend "as smartly as possible" in the economic downturn.

"We have had an exceptional start to the year which has improved further at the beginning of April and it appears that our tremendous pizza quality and very strong value position is helping us to take advantage of a change in eating habits during these challenging times," he said.

Mr Saunders added the company aims to have at least 300 stores open in the UK and Ireland by the end of 2013.

Each new store was estimated to create around 20 to 30 full and part time jobs, so he said the firm hoped to add 3,000 new jobs in the next four years.

Papa John's said online sales increased by 55.5% in the first quarter, compared with the same period last year.

Overall system sales rose by 12.2% in the quarter.

The announcement comes in the wake of a slew of positive results from the fast food industry, which is one of the few sectors to have benefited from the downturn.

Consumers worried about the state of their wallets appear to be turning away from more conventional restaurants and staying at home with a take-away instead.

Fast food giant McDonald's has said last year was its "strongest ever" in the UK despite the economic gloom.

And in February fried chicken chain KFC said it plans an expansion, which would create up to 9,000 jobs over the next five years.

Domino's Pizza also revealed its intention to open a further 50 stores this year, creating at least another 1,500 new jobs in the UK and Ireland as it said profits had grown almost a quarter in 2008.

The first Papa John's restaurant was opened in Indiana in the US in 1985 by founder John Schnatter.

It now has over 3,200 outlets worldwide.