Papa Johns is the latest pizza chain to close hundreds of locations following a tough quarter as customers pull back on spending.
The company revealed during Thursday’s earnings call that approximately 300 underperforming restaurants in North America will close by the end of 2027, with about 200 of them shuttering this year.
The affected restaurants are those “not meeting brand expectations or lack a clear path to sustainable financial improvement, as well as locations where we can effectively transfer sales to a nearby restaurant,” said Ravi Thanawala, Papa Johns chief financial officer and president of the chain’s North America operations.
I mean, they used to be decent like 30 years ago. Never great, but decent, and cheap. Now they suuuuck, I don’t know what fuckin’ voodoo they use to make their crust eat more like a crappy biscuit than pizza dough, but boy they do it. Make your own pizza at home. I make a fantastic 16" and it costs about $2.80. Fuck this delivery pizza that tastes like cardboard and ass for $30 bullshit.
Almost like cutting corners to make your product barely edible makes them stop buying it. Who could have seen that outcome!?!
That looks delicious! Recipe?
Pizza Sauce:
28oz can of San Marzano whole peeled tomatoes with basil
3 tbs tomato paste
1 tbs extra virgin olive oil
1 1/2 tsp sea salt
Cheese:
8 oz part skim mozzarella cheese, grated
Topping:
Dried oregano
Garlic salt/butter
Yeast:
60 g lukewarm water
1/4 tsp active dry yeast
1 tsp sugar
Dough:
8 oz (227g) bread flour
1 tsp vegetable oil
1/2 tsp sugar
90 g water
yeast mixture from above
1/2 tsp sea salt
Directions
Stir yeast ingredients, allow to foam (5-10 minutes). Mix all dough ingredients (minus the salt) plus yeast mixture in stand mixer with dough hook Knead 15 minutes, adding salt in about halfway through
Let sit for 15 minutes, covered
Do a final knead: 4 minutes
Round dough
Cover, allow to sit to rise for 1 hour, covered
Push down dough and round again
Cover and allow a final rise for 1 hour (or put in the fridge for slow overnight rise)
Put pizza stone in oven on bottom rack. Heat up oven to 550F, allow it to sit for 30 minutes with the stone in it at this temp.
Stretch dough to about 16" and place on a peel dusted with corn meal
Apply sauce, cheese and a sprinkling of dried oregano. Apply melted butter with garlic salt on the crust with a pastry brush
Shimmy the peel to make sure the pizza is loose
Shimmy the pizza onto the hot pizza stone
Should cook in under 10 minutes. When it starts to get brown, switch to the broiler on high to finish off
That looks like some fucking good pizza.
Well done.