tesg's guide to big chain road food consumption

CHAIN -- Papa Murphy's
Owner -- Papa Murphy’s International, Inc
Primary Operating Region -- West and Midwest
Number of Locations -- 850 (August 2005)

As luck would have it, I lived in the very hotbed of Take-and-Bake pizza when the craze took off.  Oregon somehow claimed that prize, and the players were Figaro's and Papa Aldo's.

Papa Aldo's was the better of the two, but they were both good.  Both were striving to capitalize on the laziness of America, those who wanted to cook at home without having to prepare everything.  The low-cost price point (the biggest pies were well under $15 and were closer to $10) helped.

Figaro's actually followed me to North Dakota by one of those flukes that happens in life.  The guy who owned the local A&W Drive-In...the most beautiful A&W there ever was...decided to semi-retire.  A friend of his on the left coast turned him on to Figaro's.  Out went the car-hops, wavy roof, and award-winning landscaping (including majestic water fountain) and in went take-and-bake.  I'm still bitter, but I like a good pizza.  I remember seeing a piece of Figaro's propaganda that said across the bottom "Oregon - Washington - Idaho - North Dakota" or something like that, but it reminded me of those "London - Paris - Rome - (Insert your local city here)" shirts.

Papa Aldo's merged with California-based Murphy's Pizza.  Part of the merger was a combination of the company names, and Papa Murphy's came to be, using the Papa Aldo's menu.

I had many a Papa Murphy's when I found myself in Portland.  But expansion went eastward, and when they hit Utah, I started bringing pies to Iowa.  Then came Colorado, which only helped.  They became extremely popular with visiting friends

Then one day I was backing out of the supermarket parking lot and I happen to catch the logo in my rear view mirror.  "Son of a..." I said.  Wife # 1: "What?"  I then tore across the parking lot with her going "What?" all the way.  The SHE saw it.  "Oh my!  When did we get a Papa Murphy's?"

I was inside in seconds asking the exact same question.  Phil the owner said they'd been open about two weeks.  I totally freaked the guy out explaining how happy I was to see his store.  I even showed him my frequent buyer cards for stores in three states and he offered to HONER them!  (No, I didn't make him do so.)  I walked out with a pie immediately, of course, that I couldn't even eat because Wife #1 wanted Chinese.  Bad buffet Chinese no less.  Still bitter.

Papa Murphy's has their traditional pizza, a thicker crust topped heartily, available as create-your-own or choose from several specialties.  There's some stuffed pizzas.  Dropping one on the table will impress and intimidate your minions.  During the "low carb" craze, Papa Murphy's had "De-Lite" pizzas featuring a thinner crust and a less sugary tomato sauce.  Frankly, the De-Lites were the best things Papa Murphy's ever offered.  REALLY, REALLY good.  They should have abandoned their regular red sauce outright and gone with this one, rebadging the De-Lite crust as Papa's "thin crust".  Just because it happened to have some "diet" features to it doesn't mean they have to MARKET it as diet.

Papa Murphy's is now the undisputed king of take-and-bake.  Bottom line...it's one of the finest pizzas anywhere at a great price, and if it's not hot when you eat it it's your own fault because you cook it.  Pizzas are made-to-order with fresh ingredients you could eat off the top and be happy with.

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