Ousted Papa John’s Founder Eats 800 of His Former Chain’s Pizzas in 18 Months So He Can Complain They Suck

Photo by Jason Merritt/Getty Images.

Papa John’s founder John Schnatter misses his old company. So much so, in fact, he says he’s spent the past 18 months testing 800 Papa John’s pizzas as he schemes a path back to the top of his former pizza empire.

Schnatter was ousted as CEO and chairman after it was reported that he had used the N-word during a company phone call. He said he was not using the word himself but “paraphrasing” KFC founder Colonel Harland Sanders using it, but the backlash was swift and fierce.

In an interview with Bloomberg Businessweek’s Devin Leonard, Schnatter sought to set the record straight, shared his theory that a wide-ranging liberal cancel culture conspiracy had plotted against him, and other bizarre details of his daily life.

“Papa John Is Still Obsessed With Papa John’s” is the article’s headline, and Leonard begins by quoting Schnatter as describing his exit from the company he launched in a converted broom closet in the back of his father’s tavern in 1984 as a “crucifixion,” “unethical,” “immoral,” and “evil.”

An outspoken conservative, Schnatter had made headlines in 2012 when he said that ObamaCare would result in higher prices for pizzas and again in 2017 when he said that the NFL’s failure to stop the players’ protests was hurting pizza sales. He repeatedly complained throughout the interview that he had been unfairly targeted and persecuted for his views, mentioning various people involved at the company, its public relations firm, its ad agency, and elsewhere who were former officials in Democratic administrations or major donors to liberal candidates and causes.

Schnatter has filed suit against Papa John’s and the ad agency, and has publicly complained that Rob Lynch, the former Arby’s president who was brought in after Schnatter’s departure, doesn’t truly understand the company and has just lucked out because the pandemic drove more people to order food delivery.

To prove his point, Schnatter has apparently been conducting his own quality tests of Papa John’s pizzas, telling Leonard that he’s tested a whopping 800 pizzas over the past year and a half:

Along with displaying his helicopter, he’s used TikTok to make the case that the quality of Papa John’s pies has deteriorated in his absence. He says he’s tested 800 in the past 18 months. “Some were burnt,” he says. “Some were undercooked.” The main thing that’s kept the company afloat, he claims, has been the food delivery boom caused by the pandemic. “It kind of makes me laugh at Rob Lynch,” he says, referring to Papa John’s CEO. “This guy is delusional. He has no idea how we built this company and the fundamentals. But he thinks it’s him. He really thinks that he’s done something magical.”

The company, in the meantime, insists it’s doing fine without Schnatter. They’ve launched new products, hired well-liked former NBA star Shaquille O’Neil as a spokesman, and the stock price is at its highest ever level. Still, Schnatter was open about his desire to get back in the pizza game, although he wasn’t entirely clear how a takeover of his old company could be accomplished.

While Schnatter is putting himself out there in the courts and the media, his old company appears to be doing fine.

“Papa John’s positive results over the past two years speak for themselves,” a spokesperson said in a statement https://t.co/LeSyrS33VG pic.twitter.com/sqCshvyGye

— Businessweek (@BW) November 3, 2021

There’s another tidbit from the interview about some of the luxury items Schnatter has obtained with his Papa John’s money (he’s pocketed over half a billion dollars by cashing out his stock in the past few years), including the aforementioned helicopter, a sprawling mansion, and three vintage Chevrolet Camaro Z28s. Schnatter sold his beloved 1971 Z28 to buy the pizza oven and other equipment to launch the business. He also apparently has a “16-foot-tall sculpture of two eagles descending from the sky, mating” in a circular staircase foyer.

“It just speaks to me,” he told Leonard. “I think it’s badass.”

Read the interview at Bloomberg Businessweek.