John Schnatter dreamed. Whether he looked up at the moon while doing so is a matter of conjecture, but he did dream. He dreamed of filling a void in the pizza marketplace. That void was the need for a superior-quality, traditional pizza delivered fresh to customers’ doors.

John felt that the big national pizza chains were not doing this, so he set out to do it himself. In 1984, he started to sell pizza out of his father’s tavern to its clientele. They loved it. Soon it was so popular that he opened the first Papa John’s restaurant in space adjoining the tavern. From there, his fortunes began to rise as quickly as the dough for his pizzas.

Today, there are more than 3,000 Papa John’s restaurants around the world. These locations are company or franchisee-operated. Papa John’s commitment is to use only the finest ingredients, from freshly sliced vegetables to fresh, never frozen, hand-tossed dough and superior quality tomato sauce, which the founder believes are the essential ingredients to top-quality, flavorful pizzas, and satisfied, returning customers.

Papa John’s Inc. has their headquarters in Louisville, Kentucky. They operate 3,238 restaurants, of which 665 are company-owned. The remaining 2,573 are franchised restaurants. Papa John’s restaurants are in 50 states plus the District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico. They are also in 28 countries worldwide. They trade on NASDAQ with a current market capitalization of $834.21M.

Papa John’s remains loyal to their heritage of making a superior-quality traditional pizza. It is something they began in 1985 with their first restaurant and continue to do today for their customers. When people hum that famous Dean Martin tune, the company hopes they’re thinking of Papa John’s pizza as they do.

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