Everything That Went Wrong With Papa Johns Pizza

In the world of 'Big Pizza', today we focus on one Papa Johns. Armed with a dream, John Schnatter sold his beloved '71 Chevy Camaro, bought some pizza making equipment, and ended up serving many of us watching this video. But that road from obscurity to ubiquity hasn't been without controversies! Jon us as we trace the progress and setbacks of the one and only, Papa John's Pizza - maybe you have ordered it? Is it not as good as it used to be, as the Big Papa John Schnatter now claims?

#papajohns #pizza #weirdhistoryfood

[SaKOTR]

He's not wrong though... Papa Johns quality has dived after his departure.

[LindseyLouWho]

I miss old Papa John's; John Schnatter's team once mailed my dad a care package, and I'll never forget that. It had hundreds of dollars of signed merch in it, and a huge gift card for endless pizza (my dad was terminal and loved Camaros and Papa Johns (this was the late 90s). I wrote them a letter on a whim (I was a teenager and there was a website back in the day called the 29 cent experiment or something where a guy wrote every company (for the price of a stamp) he could think of and asked for a freebie to see what would happen, PJs wasn't on the list but gave me the idea) and John himself wrote back a letter and they sent that box. I highly doubt any company these days would do something like that.

[davidlane]

Papa John's used to be my go to Pizza for game nights with the roommates. They just aren't as good as they used to be. The bread specifically is lower quality and the sauce isn't as rich

Even more amusing is that Dominoes actually did start making better pizza than they used to. They're not as good at PJ at their peak, but they're still pretty affordable and good for the price

[MCastleberry]

A visibly damp Papa John saying he ate 40 pizzas in 30 days was the most convincing thing i ever saw from him. He absolutely looked like a man who ate more than 1 pizza a day

[Mr]

My last Papa Johns was an abomination. It was all pushed back into the box after having been flipped over. I called the store to ask if this was a normal thing. They said no and sent me out another pizza without telling me. They placed it on our deck, and if we didn't have a camera system, we'd have never known.
No thanks. Ever since he left, no quality control

[makeshift_battlefield_music]

Better Johns, Papa Ingredients. Pizza.

[odesangel]

They say the recipe is the same, but my taste buds believe otherwise. The cheese tastes like plastic and the sauce tastes like ketchup with extra sugar.

[austinbevis]

Since he was ousted from the company, the quality has taken an absolute nosedive.

[tizodd]

Papa John's *USED* *TO* be the closest to authentic pizza you could get, without going to an actual pizzeria. Now they taste just as processed and corporate as the Pizza Huts and Dominos☹

[guyk]

0:56 I honestly never expected Hunt Brothers Pizza ever to be mentioned on Weird Food History. I always knew them as probably a small pizza 🍕 chain. I know of them from the general store where my mom's parents store used to be. The current owners would make Hunt Brothers pizza for anyone that called or walked in. It's pretty good pizza.

[michaelweigand]

Schnatter “threatening” that he would have to raise the price of each pizza by 5 cents, because of Obamacare, is one of the funniest public gripes ever

[ymuirr]

I got a domino's ad twice while watching this, lol

[KevinWindsor]

I treated my Italian friend to a Papa John's pizza. The next day I went to start my car, it exploded.

[skylark.kraken]

It's amazing that Papa John's pizzas actually stay together considering they're at least 25% oil. They're all way too expensive too. It's actually worthwhile just getting a pizza oven and experimenting to get it to work properly (you don't need a fancy one, the one we have just has a gas burner on one side, you do have to rotate the pizza but it also gives a perfect opportunity to get a good look at it), turns out I don't like authentic crusts and prefer a more commercial style dough and found that a slightly lower temperature and for longer worked better. We bought this pizza oven off my brother who had just made a few pizzas and hadn't tuned things (had used wet mozzerella and then had a soggy pizza, have to use the block/grated moz).

If you do actually enjoy pizza it's way nicer and cheaper in the long run, we can make a serving for under £1/each, while with Papa John's it's like £5 for a quarter of a pizza. I'm still trying to get a BBQ chicken pizza to work, it's the best pizza Papa John's has but I haven't quite replicated it yet, it's a bit too wet

[Jaclynantes]

Im over here in Asia eating papajohns at 90's peak because they are franchises and still make pizza as taught

[RollinCoco-Nut]

For those asking about Hunt Brothers, according to Wikipedia: "Hunt Brothers Pizza is an American pizza restaurant chain. It was founded in 1991 in Nashville, Tennessee. The store's locations are primarily within convenience stores."

[TheJonathanExp]

As someone who worked at both Pizza Hut and Dominos, I can confirm that Papa Johns is significantly better pizza 🍕😄

[ghost_to_a_ghost]

Hunt Brothers and Picadilly Circus (both gas-station pizza companies) make majorly good pies. i used to live in a small town 60 miles west of Oklahoma City. that town had a Picadilly Circus Pizza establishment and after i moved back to OKC, i would drive out there to Weatherford every several months, buy a Picadilly pizza, and drive back home with it. whole thing was generally consumed by the time i arrived at home. Casey's has good pizza, too. gas-station pizza is sometimes shockingly good. you just have to know where to get it at. expensive? of course it is. it's called a convenience-store for a reason. Picadilly and Hunt Bros use some of the best tasting cheese out there, as far as chains go. Papa John's used to be better. i wish they sold their garlic-butter dipping sauce in stores. i make my own version of it at home when i make a pizza and it's messy but worth it.

[MikeYT]

Most large brands have one special person at their core, and for this company, it was John Schnatter. when he 'left' everything changed. The same thing happened with KFC and Walmart - Colonel Sanders, and Sam Walton. there are many examples

[NASCARFAN]

Please do The History of Cici's Pizza