Papa John’s addresses challenge to its ‘Better Ingredients’ slogan

Hungry yet? That’s the John’s Favorite. You can find the description on the Papa John’s website.

As delicious as the Papa John’s menu item sounds, the delivery pizza chain’s “Better Ingredients. Better Pizza.” slogan is under fire, and I don’t mean in a brick oven. Melanie Warner, an author and longtime food reporter, wanted to know the ingredients in a Papa John’s pizza. Though valid, her questions were ignored. That is, until she wrote an article describing her research for U.S. News & World Report. (The author mentions a few other chains in passing, but she zeroes in on Papa John’s.)

In the piece, Warner explains that listing ingredients is a common practice for fast-food chains, even though it’s not required by law. Wondering whether the Papa John’s slogan was just a marketing front, Warner called and emailed the company’s customer service department, asking what exactly those “better ingredients” were. Her questions garnered no response.

“Public relations wasn’t much help either,” she added.