"papa johns" news and stories

Whether you're celebrating Valentine's Day as your own best friend or with your significant other, Papa John's Pizza is offering lovers a thin-crust heart-shaped pizza for quick take-out. (Maybe you've got better things to do than eat.) After ordering a pie for lunch, we found a handful of pros and cons to ordering this pizza for what's considered a pretty special occasion.

Lovers, you'll have to decide for yourself.

Pros:
1. Papa John's is the only national pizza chain offering a heart-shaped pizza.
2. The shape makes it easy to fold over and convert into a calzone.
3. Clean-up? Not a problem.
4. It's way cheaper than an actual restaurant meal. (This can also be a con.)
5. You can spice things up with the pepperoncino that's included with your pie.

The cons after the jump ...

Whether you're rooting for the Steelers or Green Bay (or just the commercials), it's likely you'll tune into the Super Bowl this Sunday. (More than 106 million Americans watched the game last year.) Restaurant owners know the big game equals big business, so you can find all sorts of deals this weekend in honor of Sunday's big showdown.

Hosting a game-day party? You might want to consider serving pizza, since Papa John's, the "official pizza" partner for Super Bowl XLV, is conducting a sweepstakes for anyone who places an online order between 10am and 9:59 pm EST. As reported in Nation's Restaurant News, the chain is giving away $45 gift cards every 45 seconds, and offering $10 large pizzas all day. In addition, registering for "Papa Points" will win you a free large pizza if the game goes into overtime. Pizza Hut, too, is introducing a party option with its "Big Dipper" pizza, $12 for 24 strips of pizza and 4 cups of tomato sauce for dipping.

Papa John's has announced what may be the biggest free giveaway ever: free pizzas to everyone in America if this year's Super Bowl goes into overtime.

Sounds impressive and sort of mind-boggling, right? We had visions of frenzied Papa John's employees across the country trying to juggle a deluge of calls the second the extra quarter began, the smell of singed mozzarella in the air, and the urgent, tragic cry: "We're out of pepperoni, man!"

Well, not quite. This being an offer from a nationwide chain, the battle plan is a little more orderly than that. True, everyone in America (age 13 and up) is eligible for the offer, but you have to register online at www.papajohns.com and become part of the chain's Papa Points program by 11:59 p.m. on February 5, the day before the game. Then, on February 7, enrollees will receive 25 Papa Points, which is the amount needed to order a free large, three-topping pizza, if Super Bowl XLV goes into overtime.

And that's a big "if" since, as loyal fans know, no Super Bowl in history has ever gone into OT.

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Back in October, Domino's launched what seemed like the most over-the-top cheese pizza we've seen during our time here at Slashfood with their Wisconsin 6 Cheese Pizza. Well, that thought didn't last very long. Recently, Papa John's retaliated with not just one, but two pizzas: the Double Bacon 6 Cheese and the Tuscan 6 Cheese (both pictured to the left above).

Both pizzas are topped with a hearty helping of mozzarella, Parmesan, romano, asiago, provolone and fontina cheeses. The Double Bacon version also includes hickory-smoked bacon, as well as julienne strips of Canadian bacon.

Considering these two pizzas launched so close together, we couldn't help but compare them. Find out our cheesy thoughts about both after the jump.

If Papa John's has its way, you won't go ordering your pizzas willy-nilly from Joe's down the street or from that competing chain place. You know, the one that has the name of a fun game you play by matching up the numbers on the tiles. Now, if you join up online with the big daddy of pizzas, you can rack up rewards points (spend $5, get a point; collect 25 points and grab a free pie with three toppings). They've also worked on their online ordering system. But please, Papa, don't ever take away the delivery guys and gals. There are some things that should never go cyber.