If you were to ask me what my favorite pizza restaurant is, Papa Johns most definitely would not make my top 5. The “fast-food” pizza delivery service has been struggling a bit this year in their sales, while their founder and CEO John Schnatter, blamed much of their decline on the current climate of political issues in the NFL. Papa Johns is an official sponsor of the organization and with many football fans “boycotting” the NFL over players decisions to take a knee during the national anthem, he believes they will not be able to see their ads and therefore, will not purchase their pizza. I mean, in all honesty, they probably wouldn’t have ordered the pizza anyway, seeing as it’s not that good. I might be biased, seeing as I live in New York City where the pizza is 150% better than any Papa Johns chain, but, I’d probably rather heat up a frozen pizza from the grocery store than order Papa Johns.
Seeing as their sales are declining and the company hasn’t found a way to fix the problems, it was time for some change. And, many former customers were not happy with the CEO’s comments on the NFL protests. Instead of supporting him, they decided to not order from Papa Johns at all. So, basically, he predicted his own fate. And now, the founder and CEO Schnatter is stepping down and being replaced by COO Steve Ritchie. Schnatter will, however, serve as a “chairman.”
BREAKING: Papa John's announces founder John Schnatter, who caused a stir with his comments about NFL players & anthem, is out as CEO. Will now serve as chairman.
— Darren Rovell (@darrenrovell) December 21, 2017
While the news is pretty big, seeing as Schnatter is in all of their ads and commercials, Twitter users had some pretty legitimate thoughts about why Schnatter is stepping down and how it affects the company moving forward. Will it still be Papa Johns without Papa John?!?
You knew it wasn't looking good for the Papa John's CEO when they had to tell Nazis not to eat their pizza.
— Joe Weisenthal (@TheStalwart) December 21, 2017
Weird how none of the other official NFL sponsors are struggling. Maybe it’s you, not the NFL. (Hint…it’s the bad pizza) https://t.co/n2twvKW17f
— Geoff Schwartz (@geoffschwartz) December 21, 2017
Papa John’s new slogan:
Better ingredients. Better pizza. [awkward silence]
— 🅳🆁🅸🅻 🅽🆈🅴 the reply guy (@dril_nye) December 21, 2017
https://twitter.com/mollypriddy/status/943966158834638848
Papa John is going to make a new pizza chain that loves the troops enough to be the official pizza of Vince McMahon's new football league
— Marc Normandin (@Marc_Normandin) December 21, 2017
Papa John's to rebrand as "Your Mom's New Friend Steve's" with a possible pivot to "Step-Papa Steve's" sometime in the future. https://t.co/lXRPAlt5L2
— Bob Bryan (@RobertBryan4) December 21, 2017
https://twitter.com/roywoodjr/status/944000789722353665
https://twitter.com/basquiatball/status/943964717134966784
As the new CEO of Papa Johns, I promise NYC-style pizzas, extra pepperoncini, and 1000% less Peyton Manning.
— Jim Higdon (@jimhigdon) December 21, 2017
https://twitter.com/Coolguyreiner/status/943980682312929280
https://twitter.com/cuttheshitmike/status/944199832704561152
https://twitter.com/Ilcapitano94/status/944147920710000640
Also, Pizza Hut, you guys are the best kind of people.
Papa Johns is trending because it's CEO is stepping down and Pizza Hut ran an ad on Papa Johns timeline 😭😂 pic.twitter.com/yCJyQvjvom
— rob cochrane (@rob_cochrane_) December 21, 2017