Today, we are reviewing Papa Johns’s Original Crust Cheese Pizza. This is the third of a six-part series called the Cheese Pizza Challenge. The concept is simple: I visit six chain pizza shops and review six similar cheese pies. The goal is to rank how the cheese pies stack up.

Papa Johns was founded by “Papa” John Schnatter in 1984. Schnatter started the business in the back of his father’s tavern after selling his Z28 Camaro and using the proceeds to purchase used restaurant equipment. Today Papa Johns has 5,500 locations in 49 countries. It is the third-largest pizza delivery restaurant in the world and the fourth-largest pizza chain in the United States. Ironically, in 2009, Schnatter reacquired the Camaro after offering a reward of $250,000 for it.

The Construction

The Cheese Pizza Challenge involves trying similar large round cheese pizza options from various pizza chains. Papa Johns offers several crusts, like the other two pizzas reviewed from Dominos and Little Caesars, I opted to go with the default “original crust.” A large size was selected. The standard baking option (as opposed to well done) was used.  Normal amounts of sauce and mozzarella cheese were used. Since this is a cheese pizza challenge, no other toppings were used.  This pizza was made to order.

• Crust: Original
• Size: Large
• Cheese: Mozzarella (Normal Amount)
• Sauce: Pizza Sauce (Normal Amount)
• Diameter: 13 3/4″- 14 1/4″ (not an exact circle)
• Weight: 2.10 lbs (including box)
• Bake: Standard
• Location Purchased: Mint Hill, NC
• Price: $14.49
• Pies Purchased: 1

The Experience

Crust

The Original Crust is a six-ingredient crust consisting of unbleached enriched wheat flour, water, sugar, soybean oil, salt, and yeast. The pizza crust was a little thicker than I prefer, but it was a good crust. With the normal bake, there still was a nice firm undercarriage under the pizza. I also liked that this wasn’t a very doughy crust.

Papa John’s has pioneered dipping sauces for its pizza. That’s an option I have rarely chosen, but I found the Papa John’s Crust went very well with a garlic dipping sauce. Note: Crust dipping is not factored into the score.

Score: 1.5 out of 2.5 points

Sauce

The sauce on Papa Johns Original Crust Chese Pizza is Papa John’s original pizza sauce. Papa Johns says the tomatoes used in this sauce are freshly packed from vine to can on the same day. The sauce was flavorful with a slight amount of sweetness to it. At the same time, there was a nice amount of robustness to this sauce.

Score: 1.5 out of 2.5 points

Cheese

Papa John’s has several cheese options, but on the Original Crust Cheese pie, the default option is mozzarella. This is not a cheese blend, but all 100% part-skim mozzarella. In many cases I don’t find the cheese blends to work quite as well.

Except for a few spots, there is some crisping of the cheese from the baking process – which is something that I like.

Score: 1.5 out of 2.5 points

Intangibles

If you follow the cheese pizza challenge, there are three specific intangibles I look for in a pie:

• “Orange Glow”: This is created when the cheese melts into the sauce. It’s enhanced when the cheese is crisp. The Papa John’s Pizza had a slight amount of orange glow. I still would have liked a little more crispness of the cheese, but overall this is satisfactory.
• Well-defined Edge: This is when the crust is slightly thicker and doesn’t have sauce and cheese over it. In this case, there was a well-defined edge on this crust, but perhaps it was too big.
• Firm Bottom Crust:  The bottom pizza should not be floppy, nor should it taste doughy.  The Papa John’s Original Crust pizza did not have a floppy undercarriage and it was not doughy.

This pizza had a good balance of cheese and sauce. Overall, all of the components tasted well together.

Score: 1.50 out of 2.5 points

OVERALL ASSESSMENT

This was one of the more interesting pizzas I have had during the Cheese Pizza Challenge. In each of the four categories, the Papa Johns Original Crust Cheese Pizza scored slightly above average. At the same time, there was no category that stood head and shoulders above the rest. In other words, it was 1.50 out of 2.50 in each category, resulting in a solid 6.0 score. This pizza might have scored a little higher if I had requested well done.

Summary

Crust	1.50
Sauce	1.50
Cheese	1.50
Intangibles	1.50
Total	6.00

Score: 6.00 (out of 10 points)
Value: Slightly Above Average

Cheese Pizza Challenge Standings (Thru 3 Pies)

Each category is worth 2.5 points, with a maximum of 10 points per pizza.

	Pizza	Crust	Sauce	Cheese	Intangibles	Score
1	Papa Johns Original Crust	1.50	1.50	1.50	1.50	6.00
2	Domino’s Hand Tossed	1.00	1.50	1.25	1.25	5.00
3	Little Caesars Round Cheese Pie	0.50	1.50	1.00	0.75	3.75

Acknowledgment

Special thanks to Charlie Minato at Halfwheel, who suggested including the measurements and weight of the food products and the store location. We will use this information in our food product assessments going forward.

Photo Credits: Cigar Coop