tesg's guide to big chain road food consumption

CHAIN -- Papa John's
Owner -- Papa John's International, Inc (NASDAQ: PZZA)
Primary Operating Region -- Nationwide
Number of Locations -- 2792 (December 2002)

My first experience with a delivery chain happened on a high school jazz band trip to Seattle.  We had delivery, but it was locally-owned pizza places that would respond in anywhere from 2 to 3 hours.  So the idea of a 30-minute delivery was almost absurd.  But I had to try it, so I called Domino's.  They impressed me immediately by calling me back after ordering and saying "We accidentally made a medium instead of a large, so can we make a large and give you both for the same price?"  This is what you call making a GOOD impression.  Amazing.

A few years later, I lived across the street from a Domino's, so I used to just walk over and pick them up.  They were great.  Well run store.

But a chain is a chain, and some operators are better than others.  So I can't say with certainty that the whole Domino's chain went downhill, but the local stores certainly aren't up to par.  Bad bad pizza.

I first saw Papa John's in Cheyenne, Wyoming.  Gave them a call, and they gave me something that resembled the Domino's pizzas I'd enjoyed ten years previous.  In fact, they were BETTER.  So it was with much joy that we abruptly discovered a Papa John's finally open in locally, even if we lived two blocks outside the delivery area.  We were rewarded, however, when the gas station three blocks from our house closed, and Papa John's took it over.

John Schnatter sold his car to finance used equipment he installed in broom closet space in his father's tavern.  He sold pizza to the customers.  Success allowed Schnatter to put an actual restaurant in adjoining space, and the first Papa John's was born.

Times have changed and so have my pizza habits.  What used to be a "medium" pizza is today a "large" (a "large" at any chain used to be 16 inches, you're lucky if it's 14 now.)  Toppings have skimped in favor of deep discounting.  Thus, most of my home pizza consumption comes from my own home recipe, or a pie I baked from Papa Murphy's, but once in awhile I'll still call Papa John's.  The lawyers at Pizza Hut can sue all they want.  Better ingredients DO make a better pizza.  And even if the ingredients aren't better, Papa John's is.

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