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I ordered some Papa John's last week, and it was literally the most disgusting thing I've ever put in my mouth. The funny thing is, I've eaten Papa John's a few times in the past, in other locales, and felt the same way. So why did I order from there? Well, I was in a new city, didn't really have a favorited local pizza joint, so I just ordered from a familiar brand name. The same can be said for McDonald's. Their food tastes like garbage and it makes you feel like garbage, but people still buy it and eat it.
This got me thinking about branding, then how you don't really need a quality product at all.
Making a sale is all about the perception, not about the reality. If the customer has buyer's remorse, big deal. You have their money. Wait a few weeks, let them see a few ads of you sitting next to a football hero, and they'll eventually associate your brand with trustworthiness.
I totally agree--both about the blandness of Papa John's pizza and also about marketing being the real answer.
Like a lot of businesses, I bet it was really good when he only had one store and was first starting out, but then went downhill after it took off.
The comment from the OP could apply to many businesses. Little Caesar's Pizza is a prime example for me. Their pizza is terrible, yet cars are backed up into the street in the drive-thru on many nights at our local Little Caesar's joint.
That's more of a pricing point phenomenon. Little Caesar's pizza is 5 bucks, and you can walk in and grab an already made pepperoni and walk out in 5 minutes. Its the ultimate in convenience. PJs or anywhere else youre going to pay 5x the price for a large pizza. Why? My wife and I learned a long time ago how to make the PJs garlic butter sauce, and that we can grab a little caesars for 5 bucks then go home and add whatever toppings we want for about a buck assuming you keep ingredients in your fridge like ham and sausage. Theres no reason to pay 25 dollars for a pizza that's not even "better toppings."
I can tell you this; the marketing on Papa Johns boxes is misleading and someday they will get sued into Oblivian. Their ingredients arent high quality and in fact the grade "cheese" they buy from Sorrento is the lowest available (in fact Sorrento had to lower their standards to meet what Papa Johns wanted!). It's sad but a typical trend; the company started out as high quality and then over the last few years massively cut corners to get their costs as low as possible. Many large corporations have done this. Pizza Hut, Dominos, Papa Johns are just a few of the pizza chains... Their garlic sauce, pizza sauce, bread and cheese is mostly cheap industrial chemicals. *sigh* only in the US can companies get away with this nonsense.
I remember when the Pizza Hut crust was made fresh - you could watch the cook toss the dough in the air. Now Pizza Hut crust is delivered to the store frozen.
That's more of a pricing point phenomenon. Little Caesar's pizza is 5 bucks, and you can walk in and grab an already made pepperoni and walk out in 5 minutes. Its the ultimate in convenience. PJs or anywhere else youre going to pay 5x the price for a large pizza. Why? My wife and I learned a long time ago how to make the PJs garlic butter sauce, and that we can grab a little caesars for 5 bucks then go home and add whatever toppings we want for about a buck assuming you keep ingredients in your fridge like ham and sausage. Theres no reason to pay 25 dollars for a pizza that's not even "better toppings."
I don't mind little ceasars, I'll grab one for a cheap quick meal and it is convenient. I remember years ago a buddy of mine telling me he stopped eating it becausethey dont use real cheese and it kinda grossed him out.
LIttle Ceasars as well as most of the chains are obviously going to cut corners and not use quality ingredients when they are selling a pizza for $5 or $7.
I hate paying $25 for a large pizza from a mom and pop place but a good place you can definately tell the difference between chain and quality ingrdients. I have a mom and pop place that makes my fav pizza. THey do a lot of text specials so though it would normally be like $18 or $20 for a extra large with just cheese they often run deals like buy one get one or get a large for $9 or calzones unlimited ingredients for $3.99 when they normally $8 or $9.
I'm a pizza lover and being ni Chicago come from a pizza city so kind of demand quality. I remember when I moved to Minnesota first question you ask the new neighbors or coworkers is whos got good pizza where you order from and everyone is saying how great pizza hut is, I just shook my head.
I ordered some Papa John's last week, and it was literally the most disgusting thing I've ever put in my mouth. The funny thing is, I've eaten Papa John's a few times in the past, in other locales, and felt the same way. So why did I order from there? Well, I was in a new city, didn't really have a favorited local pizza joint, so I just ordered from a familiar brand name. The same can be said for McDonald's. Their food tastes like garbage and it makes you feel like garbage, but people still buy it and eat it.
This got me thinking about branding, then how you don't really need a quality product at all.
Making a sale is all about the perception, not about the reality. If the customer has buyer's remorse, big deal. You have their money. Wait a few weeks, let them see a few ads of you sitting next to a football hero, and they'll eventually associate your brand with trustworthiness.
You admit that you've eaten Papa John's 'a few time", plus once more. You state that every time you've eaten it, it was 'it was literally the most disgusting thing I've ever put in my mouth'. Frankly, any business model that can generate repeat purchases from people who find the product extremely disgusting is one amazing business model.
On a side note, how is it that you cannot comprehend that your tastes are mere preferences, and not absolute standards?
I don't care for Papa John's either - but I'm not so self-absorbed that I think everyone else should have the same subjective reaction to their products.
My problem with PJ's pizza is the sauce.. Whatever it is in their sauce gives me heartburn to no end.. So, I don't eat it. Little Caesar's is much the same but not as bad. Domino's I haven't had since the 'reformulation'.. Pizza Hut doesn't bother me.
There is no comparison, normally, between a small mom-and-pop place, especially if they make their own dough and the chains.. but that holds true with most everything.
We've got a small pizza place called Dempsey's in a tiny town called Clinton, SC.. Presbyterian College is probably the biggest thing in the town.. And that pizza place does gangbusters. 30+ minute waits on weekends, at least. Opened in an old Pizza Inn.. Buffet.. And they come out with some weird-ass pizzas.. The 'normal unusual' things like taco pizzas.. Pizzas with BBQ Sauce instead of pizza sauce, etc.. but they actually had a pimento cheese pizza last time I was there.
That's more of a pricing point phenomenon. Little Caesar's pizza is 5 bucks, and you can walk in and grab an already made pepperoni and walk out in 5 minutes. Its the ultimate in convenience. PJs or anywhere else youre going to pay 5x the price for a large pizza. Why? My wife and I learned a long time ago how to make the PJs garlic butter sauce, and that we can grab a little caesars for 5 bucks then go home and add whatever toppings we want for about a buck assuming you keep ingredients in your fridge like ham and sausage. Theres no reason to pay 25 dollars for a pizza that's not even "better toppings."
Oh believe me, I know that price definitely factors into its popularity, but even for that price point, i still can't fathom eating it. I'm no pizza snob. I pretty much like all the chain places, but that's 1 place I just can't do.
I can't even imagine paying full price for a chain pizza, I just won't do it. Sometimes I am cheap, and at these times I may get a chain pizza.
When we go out for pizza, we will go to a local chain. For carry out, normally it is Whole Foods. Occasionally, I'll get something from Pizza Hut for convenience and because it is cheap, but that is less and less.
I'm not overly impressed with PJ, its ok, but I wouldn't ever choose it to buy.
Not impressed with Papa John's. I've had their pizza quite a few times and for me it just tastes like any other pizza. I'd almost rather have DiGiornos frozen pizza for half of the price lol.
I will say that it's "more tolerable" than Dominos or Pizza Hut though
You admit that you've eaten Papa John's 'a few time", plus once more. You state that every time you've eaten it, it was 'it was literally the most disgusting thing I've ever put in my mouth'. Frankly, any business model that can generate repeat purchases from people who find the product extremely disgusting is one amazing business model.
On a side note, how is it that you cannot comprehend that your tastes are mere preferences, and not absolute standards?
I don't care for Papa John's either - but I'm not so self-absorbed that I think everyone else should have the same subjective reaction to their products.
Very good comment. As an Italian I turn my nose up at poor quality spaghetti sauces like ragu, however there's people out there with different palletes than mine and some people would take spaghetti with ketchup over a nice homemade sauce. Who am I to tell them they are wrong and I am right. Different strokes.
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