Simple, better ingredients and better pizza. They started in 1984 and over 30 years later manage to have 4700 locations and growing, all due to the sheer amazing-ness and quality of their legendary Pizza. I’ve eaten at hundreds of mom and pop pizza places and local pizzerias all over the US from Chicago to New York to Boston to Minneapolis to Seattle to Houston to Detroit to Miami and nothing comes close to Papa Johns. I actually filed a complaint with a local chain that has been in business since the 1950s and I brought up to them it’s a massively epic fail on their behalf that they only have around 20 locations while Papa Johns that started 30 years later then they did and they’ve managed to become the 3rd largest pizza chain in a significantly shorter period of time while this pathetic local chain has only expanded to around 20 locations in almost twice the amount of time it took Papa John’s to expand to 4700+ locations. BAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!
Remember, competition in the restaurant industry is FIERCE! When a customer patronizes a restaurant, they’ve specifically chosen to NOT spend their hard earned money somewhere else. You can’t tell me with a straight face that all these people and the 5+ million facebook likes Papa Johns has are people that hate Papa Johns and are “too lazy” or “don’t have time” to patronize somewhere else.
This assumes that this local chain of yours *wanted *to expand like Papa Johns, via franchising; a lot of small companies don’t. It’s a great way to make a cash grab, but it’s fraught with compromises typical of mass production. Every large chain has horror stories of the early days of franchising, when they discovered locations that pretty much ignored the template and just used the name.
I gave Papa Johns multiple tries here, and found the pizza nothing special and the service consistently poor. I now schlep over to a place called Donato’s (they don’t deliver where I live), with Pizza Hut as my delivery place.
Papa John’s is the best option I have for home delivery. I like their pan style. It arrives quickly and my order is prepared correctly.
There are better dine-in pizza places. When I feel like taking a shower, shave, get dressed, and drive across town. I don’t go out anywhere without looking sharp.
Usually I prefer to hang out at home. Watch TV and place an order on their website.
I prefer Papa John’s over Dominos, and both are far better than Pizza Hut as far as local delivery pizza chains go.
Most of the other local pizza places seem to have been turned into stupid hipster wood-fired sourdough-crust pizza joints offering only about five pizza choices involving weird ingredients like artichokes and capers. And if you eat at the restaurant the beer selection is all “Obscure Microbrewery of the Week Ale” with extra hoppy froth and whatnot. I’m hoping that this trend dies out quickly. Any pizza place that doesn’t have pepperoni as a topping option needs to fuck right off.
It’s not good, but they got my money by being the first restaurant of any kind to offer online ordering. I remember at the time telling a co-worker at a company that sold computers and all my co-workers made fun of me for being “too lazy to pick up a phone” or sign off the internet, and they couldn’t understand why anyone would ever order anything on the internet.
I quit buying from PJ’s for the same reason. I think the guy is an ass and he’s not getting any of my money. Plus the one we used to patronize declared that we were outside of their delivery area - 6 whole miles away!!!
Instead, we patronize a local place that has one location in our county and one in the adjoining county. They deliver, the have really good selections, and the have all kinds of coupons and deals all the time. I’d rather my money go to a local company that doesn’t annoy me with stupid TV commercials.
If you live anywhere close to a major city, there is no excuse to get “fast food” pizza unless you want crappy pizza. If you are far from a city and its all that you can get, well… yeah I got nothin’.
Of the chain pizzas, it’s the worst, in my opinion. I don’t care about his politics; I just care about the pizza, and it’s just godawful. Domino’s, Little Caesars, Chuck E Cheese Pizza, even Pizza Hut are all better, in my opinion.
I had it a few weeks ago at a birthday party, and the only saving grace was the piece I had was stacked with giardiniera (not sure if it’s available outside Chicago, but it’s a spicy Italian relish kind of thing). Otherwise, the pizza was as I remember it and what I dislike about it: floppy, soggy, flavorless, bready crust. Domino’s used to be my least favorite pizza, but when Domino’s changed up their crust a few years ago, they’ve actually moved up several notches to pizza that I will actually buy willingly when I want a quick, cheap meal for the family and don’t feel like spending $25 at the local pizzeria.
Obviously, there are many people who love them. Different strokes and all that. To me, though, it’s not what I like out of a pizza.
People actually like PJ pizza? I’ve had it a few times at work meetings and I figured that’s the only way they sell pizza. They make Domino’s look like fine dining.
And, didn’t know that about the owner so another reason to never buy their pizza (not like I would’ve anyway).
Stop! You’re making me hungry, and it’s only 9:30 am!
I don’t remember the last time I had Papa John’s pizza, but there’s a Pizza Hut near my house, and I’ve noticed over the past few years that the crust has become noticeably sweet, like they’re adding HFCS to it. I had the thought that probably the large pizza chains have done this to make people think it tastes better.