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August 25, 2009 9:30 AM

"Papa" John Schnatter loved his old Camaro so much he couldn't bear to watch it drive away after he sold it, but he used the proceeds of the sale to start a restaurant business (which ended up going pretty well). To celebrate the 25th anniversary of starting his restaurant, he traveled the US to thank his employees and search for his lost car. Surprisingly, he found it, bought it back and to celebrate he's giving everyone with a Camaro a free pizza tomorrow. (Aug. 26th)
posted by 1f2frfbf (53 comments total)

That's....that's actually pretty damn cool.
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 9:32 AM on August 25

Looks like the subsequent owners took a sweet dual exhaust off the back of that Camaro.
posted by Ironmouth at 9:33 AM on August 25

I'm going to eat my pizza while listening to my favorite cover band, Crystal Shit.
posted by robocop is bleeding at 9:34 AM on August 25 [5 favorites]

I prefer the '67 myself, but that's a pretty nice piece of American steel.
posted by Devils Rancher at 9:34 AM on August 25

Now I want garlic dipping sauce.
posted by jquinby at 9:35 AM on August 25

If I bring in a pizza, can I get a free Camaro?
posted by DU at 9:35 AM on August 25 [2 favorites]

I'm going to eat my pizza while listening to my favorite cover band, Crystal Shit.

I hope those guys have a good sense of humor, and don't take you into court.
posted by drjimmy11 at 9:37 AM on August 25 [7 favorites]

What's the court?
posted by robocop is bleeding at 9:38 AM on August 25

Ah, Papa John's. "Better Ingredients, Better Pizza," indeed. A friend of mine worked as a driver for most all of the major chains at various points during his high school and college days. He said that a couple of the ingredients at Papa John's seemed better but most of them were exactly the same.

'Papa' John was 22 and childless when he founded the company. The name and the slogan are both triumphs of marketing and image over reality.

On the other hand, I won't deny that it's a nice personal story for the guy who essentially bet the car on the success of his company to be able to buy it back after that gamble paid off.
posted by jedicus at 9:38 AM on August 25

I'm going to eat my pizza while listening to my favorite cover band, Crystal Shit.

So, what are you going to do this weekend? Go to the shore?
posted by Ironmouth at 9:38 AM on August 25 [2 favorites]

$250k reward is pretty motivating.
posted by smackfu at 9:38 AM on August 25

The name managed to be the exact name I used for my grandfather. Papa John's came to my area long after he had died and it Freaked. Me. Out.
posted by mkb at 9:43 AM on August 25 [1 favorite]

Cool story. Reminds me a bit of the guy who tracked down and bought the Better Off Dead Camaro. And it makes me think more positively about Papa John's, and why their pizza tastes like a tire.

I think I just feel like Papa Gino's should've kicked their ass. Much better pie. Papa in the name.
posted by dirtdirt at 9:44 AM on August 25

Hear that, 18 year old boys and 40-something fat guys with long hair who listen to Foghat? Free shitty pizza tomorrow!
posted by bondcliff at 9:44 AM on August 25 [7 favorites]

'Papa' John was 22 and childless when he founded the company.

With a sweet-ass camaro like that I doubt it!
posted by Pollomacho at 9:45 AM on August 25 [7 favorites]

That's a fantastic story. Recovering a long-lost piece of one's youth in such an unlikely way should be cause for celebration. Now if only I had a Camero so I could score some free pizza...
posted by TBAcceptor at 9:47 AM on August 25

If I had a Camero I'd sell it to make damn sure I didn't get any free Papa John's pizza. Nice story, though.
posted by Huck500 at 9:50 AM on August 25

That's one bitchin' Camaro.
posted by Floydd at 9:51 AM on August 25 [4 favorites]

I've noticed the last several times walking past the Avis lot they have a shitload of bitchin' Camaros for rent. I could take my free car rental coupon and rent a Camaro and get free pizza. Then again if I drove a Camero I might run over my neighbor and get in all the papers.
posted by birdherder at 9:56 AM on August 25 [1 favorite]

'Papa' John was 22 and childless when he founded the company. The name and the slogan are both triumphs of marketing and image over reality.

That seems like an unreasonably high standard to hold corporate branding to. In other news, the original Pizza Hut was actually located in a quite respectable brick building, clearly not a 'hut' by any reasonable definition. To the pitchforks!

I was just impressed to find out that there was actually some guy named "John" at the helm of the company, and that it wasn't a complete fabrication dreamed up by a focus group inside the bowels of PepsiYum!WorldDominationCo's secret volcano lair.

Compared to Pizza Hut or just about any other national fast-food chain, 30% founder ownership makes it a down-home family operation.

Their pizza still sucks, though. Flippin' Pizza, FTW.
posted by Kadin2048 at 9:57 AM on August 25 [2 favorites]

There's gonna be a lot of Camaro test drives tomorrow.
posted by man vs sun at 9:59 AM on August 25

After 30+ years, I still long for a Camaro.
posted by swift at 9:59 AM on August 25

Thank you for this interesting and heartwarming press release.
posted by cmonkey at 10:01 AM on August 25 [5 favorites]

I'm kind of surprised the original purchasers didn't buy it back from Robinson so they could cash in on the $250K.

Which way to the alternate universe where this story involves free edible pizza and a Corvette? Although I've got to laud Papa John's pizza for making the only large chain pizza worse than Domino's pizza into a success story.
posted by BrotherCaine at 10:03 AM on August 25

While there are certainly better pizza's than Papa John's, a hand tossed, pepperoni with dipping sauce is one of my favorites.

Although I think we can all agree that Domino's only qualifies as pizza because it's round. It's the only pizza I ever threw away and that says a lot.
posted by gelos at 10:12 AM on August 25 [1 favorite]

posted by Floydd That's one bitchin' Camaro.

His folks drove it up here from the Bahamas.
posted by mattdidthat at 10:13 AM on August 25 [2 favorites]

large chain pizza worse than Domino's pizza into a success story.
posted by BrotherCaine

Yeah, I'm going to have to go ahead and disagree with you on that. Do you remember Domino's from eating it drunk in college and therefore your memories aren't quite right.
posted by gelos at 10:14 AM on August 25

I came here for the bitchin' Camaro references, and I was not disappointed.

Also: Just ran over your mom.
posted by eriko at 10:15 AM on August 25 [2 favorites]

Recovering a long-lost piece of one's youth in such an unlikely way should be cause for celebration.

If anybody locates the mid-80's Pontiac station wagon that I used to drive, don't bother getting in touch with me. I said I never wanted to see that piece of shit again in my life, and I meant it.
posted by wabashbdw at 10:17 AM on August 25 [6 favorites]

Funny, I just sent this to a Camaro-owning friend with the subject line Free "pizza". His Camaro is not really all that sweet, though.

There is a Papa John's across the street from a Little Caesar's not too far from here. I really, honestly cannot understand how they stay in business when there are dozens of really good pizza joints around. Some of them even deliver. Most of them are reasonably-priced. (It is true, though, that the absolute nearest pizza place makes awful pizza... but there's one a block away that's great. Plus you can get little garlic knot sliders with pepperoni and cheese inside.) Fuck anyone who supports chain pizza in that environment.

Domino's is an exception because they deliver really late at night and it doesn't really count as pizza anyway.
posted by uncleozzy at 10:36 AM on August 25

I could just say "donuts on your lawn," or I could make a Richard Shindell song reference which would be slightly more apropos. Decisions, decisions...
posted by weston at 10:45 AM on August 25 [1 favorite]

And if anyone sees my yellow-ivory 1985 Nissan Sentra Wagon, the one with the luggage rack and a big dent in the middle of the bumper (Hecho en Mexico!), you're welcome to contact me, even though I wouldn't know what to do about it. I actually had a dream featuring that thing the other night. Sigh.
posted by weston at 10:47 AM on August 25

I'm a sucker for these kinds of stories. Yes, the search for his Camaro transparently served a marketing purpose, but from reading the stories on Jalopnik it is equally clear that he really did love that car and want to find it. John Schnatter seems like a cool dude, and is well-loved in Louisville for his frequent and varied charitable contributions and sponsorships.
posted by AgentRocket at 10:51 AM on August 25 [1 favorite]

Next: He offers a giant reward for the return of his gold necklaces, shiny, tight bellbottoms and feathered hair, parted in the middle.
posted by chococat at 10:55 AM on August 25

1) Their pizza is "eh" for a national chain. Pretty bland, IMO. Their chicken sucks. Fatty pieces of shit.. But... I LOVE the damn chocolate pastries they have. To DIE for. That's the only reason I order from them.
2) When I start my pizza company, everyone with a Ford Pinto gets a free pizza.
posted by symbioid at 11:00 AM on August 25

I tell you what, that is a bad-ass Camaro.
posted by Mister_A at 11:03 AM on August 25

Do you remember Domino's from eating it drunk in college and therefore your memories aren't quite right.

No, I've only eaten Domino's pizza twice, both times free. While it's pretty crappy, at least the overly sweet sauce was skimpy, and I could choke down half a slice. The one time I had a Papa John pizza it was drowning in a sauce so sweet it tasted like tomato flavored corn syrup. Pizza as candy is an automatic fail as far as I'm concerned. Not the worst pizza I've ever tasted, but certainly better to throw it away than eat it. I'd eat either pizza over live cockroaches, but that's not exactly a ringing endorsement.
posted by BrotherCaine at 11:21 AM on August 25

You know, I usually don't like "stories of rich people wasting their money" but I liked this. For one, he isn't buying a damned 747 jet for his own personal like John "I am global warming" Travolta - he's recycling! And I really love the idea of being reunited with an old friend.
posted by lupus_yonderboy at 11:35 AM on August 25

weston, it's killing me--what's the Richard reference?
posted by epj at 11:38 AM on August 25

"I sold my old camaro, I sold my fishing boat..."
posted by weston at 11:44 AM on August 25

Geez, I can't believe I couldn't come up with that. Thank you!
posted by epj at 11:46 AM on August 25

The Papa John's sauce is sickeningly sweet because the primary ingredient in the spice bag is sugar. I ate so much of the pizza the two years that I worked there that I don't want to ever have it again. I will say that if I had to choose between Papa John's and Domino's, I'd take Papa Johns. It at least has some flavor.

If I had taken the store mgmt job they offered me back when they were still just a pimple on Domino's ass, I'd probably have cashed out nicely after the IPO and been long retired. Yet another bad career decision on my part. It's not the only one.
posted by COD at 12:07 PM on August 25

In another 20 years, John Schnatter is going to look like Mickey Rourke.
posted by mrmojoflying at 12:14 PM on August 25

For me, the real issue with Papa Johns is that guys weirdly white eyelids - as if every moment he isn't filming a commercial he is wearing little pince-nez sunglasses while standing in the hot sun.
posted by dirtdirt at 12:28 PM on August 25

that guys weirdly white eyelids

He's got a tanning addiction.
posted by mrmojoflying at 1:11 PM on August 25

I worked as a driver for Papa John's summer of 1995. Do they franchise now? They didn't back then. My second night there, while I was still being introduced to swarms of people, Schnatter was "visiting", and I was introduced to him. I got the usual "Welcome to the team" kind of blather, shook his hand, and had not the slightest clue who he was until some months later. Thought he was just some middle-management mucky-muck type. He was apparently pretty heavily involved in operations at the time, and knew the store manager well enough that there were phone calls between them.

While Schnatter was there, one of the assistant managers was making pizzas while a mom and her little kid waited. The assistant manager actually tossed and spun the dough, like you see in movies, and a little later Schnatter took him aside and told him not to do that. He wasn't an ass about it or anything, it was a pretty low-key comment. He said it damaged the integrity of the dough, or something. On the one hand, wow, he gave rat's ass about that? On the other, the little kid had been tickled to watch it and I doubt she or her mom really noticed the dough's structural integrity all that much.

What I understood from the other drivers in the store at the time was that it was a good place to be a driver. Years later I tried to get a job at Papa John's corporate, but couldn't even got an interview.
posted by dilettante at 1:37 PM on August 25

There is a Papa John's across the street from a Little Caesar's not too far from here. I really, honestly cannot understand how they stay in business when there are dozens of really good pizza joints around.

I'd imagine price and convenience. Being able to pick up a large pizza on a whim for five bucks must be a pretty big draw.
posted by gyc at 2:30 PM on August 25

Feel-good story, taste-bad pizza.
posted by box at 4:30 PM on August 25

Louisville is filled with shitty anecdotes about the man. My only encounters were when I used to live down the street from the coffee shop he frequents, and he'd roll up in his monstrous Escalade or whatever the fuck looking really self important. The baristas always said he was an asshat, but who knows. People tend to think the rich are asshats just on principal (which they often are).
posted by Roman Graves at 4:53 PM on August 25

The cynic in me thinks it is very interesting that the Camaro Free Pizza thing is awfully close to GM's launch of the new Camaro. That odd coincidence makes me wonder if GM is at least partially footing the bill for this stunt. Pass the courvoisier, and some Pepsi Blue.
posted by Antidisestablishmentarianist at 4:59 PM on August 25 [1 favorite]

My son bought himself a totally refurbished '87 Camaro off Ebay about a year and a half ago, as a pregraduation present to himself, flew out to the East Coast to pick it up and drove it back to Colorado during his spring break.

It's a sweet ride, loud as heck, but he absolutely loves it.

I just left a message on his phone about this.
posted by St. Alia of the Bunnies at 5:01 PM on August 25

That odd coincidence makes me wonder if GM is at least partially footing the bill

Or Schnatter was like, whoa, that new Camaro is sick; I wish I had my Z28 back.
posted by uncleozzy at 5:13 PM on August 25

He said that a couple of the ingredients at Papa John's seemed better but most of them were exactly the same.

Initially, a jury sided with Pizza Hut agreeing that Papa John's claims of better sauce and dough were false or misleading. The judge ordered Papa John's to stop using the "Better ingredients. Better pizza" slogan and awarded Pizza Hut $467,619 in damages.

Jurors in that trial were asked if the ads were likely to deceive the consumer. But a federal appeals court later said the jurors were never asked if consumers relied on Papa John's "better" claims when deciding what pizza to buy. So last September, the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals overturned the verdict and ruled in favor of Papa John's. -- About.com

My brother was a Papa John's driver for a few years (he now drives a train instead), and as a result we got an employee discount for a very long time even after he had moved away. I have to say for that price it was a good pizza, but I really prefer Pizza Hut of all the chains.

Funny, around here we also have a Taco John's. I have to say that Italian and/or Mexican food branded with the Anglo name "John" tends to be around the same modest quality.
posted by dhartung at 7:00 PM on August 25