"papa johns" news and stories

The NFL kicks off its regular season in just a couple weeks, and for millions of fantasy football fans again this year, what happens online will be just as important as what happens on the gridiron. A number of restaurant chains are getting in on the act, with deals and prizes aimed at transforming football fantasy into reality.

Here is a round-up of some, as reported by Nation's Restaurant News:

Papa John's:
Winners of Papa John's "Ultimate 'Fantasy to Reality' Experience" will score a trip to the 2011 NFL Draft in New York, while another group of winners will receive free pizzas on Sept. 9 (NFL kick-off day) delivered by Minnesota Vikings all-pro receiver Chris Carter. To enter, log on to Papa John's Facebook page and explain why your fantasy football league is better than all the rest.

Get more deals after the jump...

I tend to be pretty particular about my pizza. When I lived in Virginia, I plotted out most of my region based on the tastiest pizza, the best priced pizza, and a few other key pizza considerations. While New York is a daunting pizza town, I've spent much of the past few years figuring out the best pizza places, calibrating the difference between amazing pizza and that which is simply acceptable, and generally trying to figure out how to best enjoy one of my favorite foods.

While I prefer mom and pop pizza joints, I have occasionally been know to frequent chain pizzerias. Of the major pizza franchises, my favorite was always Pizza Hut; their flavors always struck me as particularly clean, and their ingredients always seemed quite fresh. However, when I removed high fructose corn syrup from my diet, I started being able to taste it in fast foods. One day, while eating a pizza, I detected its foul flavor in the sauce. A little research confirmed my suspicion: Pizza Hut was using the dreaded HFCS. In a moment, Pizza Hut joined the foully-sweet Papa John's and the blandly repulsive Domino's on my no-eat list. My "pizza island" got a little smaller, a little narrower, and a little sadder.

Recently, however, the chain has developed The Natural, a pizza that allegedly uses vine-ripened tomatoes and all-natural mozzarella, while eschewing artificial ingredients like HFCS, nitrates, nitrites, artificial colors, and preservatives. According to some sources, they are planning to extend this all-natural trend to the rest of their line.

It looks like I may have to revisit one of my old favorites!

We've probably all seen crop circles and we've all been exposed to pizza flyers, but recently Papa John's innovated a unique combination of the two.

According to the Fire Wire blog, this advertisement for Papa John's new whole wheat crust is cut into a wheat field near the Denver airport. It'll be seen by everyone flying in to the Denver area, just in time for the Democratic National Convention. The pizza chain apparently wanted to get in on the convention sales, but wanted to have fun with it.

I actually really like this ad. It's a lot more fun and less obnoxious than other Papa John's ad campaigns. What's your take on the pizza ad crop circle?



[via Neatorama]