Papa John's Founder Tackles Wild West on Nationwide Road Trip and $250,000 Camaro Search
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Papa John's Founder Tackles Wild West on Nationwide Road Trip and $250,000 Camaro Search

"Papa" John Schnatter to teach pizza dough tossing skills in Denver, make Hollywood deliveries in Los Angeles

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (BUSINESS WIRE) -- Not even the Rocky Mountains can get in the way of Papa John's Founder John Schnatter. As part of the company's 25th Anniversary "Papa's Road Trip" tour, Schnatter will stop in Denver on Monday, and Los Angeles on Tuesday, on a nationwide search to find the 1972 Z28 Camaro he sold in 1984 to open his first Papa John's restaurant.

Schnatter will be driving a replica of his beloved Z28 in the Mile High City and City of Angels, the latest stops on his multi-city tour. He's offering a $250,000 finder's fee to the person who locates his original Camaro, which had such distinguishing features as a custom-installed sunroof and Indiana license plate 10z 54. Additional clues about the car can be found online at www.papasroadtrip.com.

"The Rockies are only a speed bump in my quest to locate the car credited for the start of Papa John's," said Schnatter. "I've promised everyone that I will leave no stone unturned as I search for my Camaro. Between the Rockies, Red Rocks, and Hollywood Hills, I'll be facing a lot of stones, but I'm willing to go the distance."

While in Denver, Papa John will join Governor Bill Ritter and Lt. Governor Barbara O'Brien in packing boxes of donated food at the Food Bank of the Rockies. While at the Food Bank, Schnatter will add free pizza cards to each donated food box prepared by the dignitaries, and will also provide pizza for the organization's "Kids Café" that will serve more than 100 children that day.

From there, the man who's made an estimated 10,000 pizzas around the world will teach children from the Boys & Girls Club of Denver the skill behind pizza making from a nearby Papa John's restaurant.

In L.A., Papa John will go "Hollywood," literally. From making surprise deliveries to select media personalities to visiting the Los Angeles chapter of Junior Achievement and sharing his entrepreneurial spirit, he will be stopping at all of the local hotspots.

The 2009 Road Trip and Schnatter's search for his original Camaro is being chronicled by two intern sidekicks who have logged Schnatter's road trip adventures online at via an array of photos, videos, blogs, tweets and rules for the contest.

Highlights of Papa's Road Trip include:

  • Louisville - launching the Road Trip and releasing first clues for finding the Camaro
  • Indianapolis - driving the replica Camaro around the track at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway as part of the Indy 500 "Community Day"
  • Atlanta - riding the Goliath (rollercoaster) with 25 contest winners at Six Flags Over Georgia
  • Houston - delivering pizzas to patients and staff at the Texas Children's Hospital and surprised attendees of a neighborhood block party with a pizza delivery
  • Dallas - feeding Cowboys Stadium construction workers alongside Cowboys Owner Jerry Jones
  • New York - ringing the Closing Bell at NASDAQ and giving away pizza in Times Square
  • Daytona - serving as the honorary starter for the 51st Annual Coke Zero 400 at the Daytona International Speedway
  • St. Louis - a pizza party in Downtown St. Louis with the Gateway Camaro Club and throwing out the ceremonial first pitch at the Cardinals game
  • Chicago - attempting a world record for the highest pizza delivery by delivering pizzas more than 1,300 feet up to the Skydeck Chicago at Willis Tower (formerly the Sears Tower)

Headquartered in Louisville, Kentucky, Papa John's International, Inc. (NASDAQ: PZZA) is the world's third largest pizza company. For nine of the last 10 years, consumers have rated Papa John's No. 1 in customer satisfaction among all national pizza chains in the highly regarded American Customer Satisfaction Index (ACSI). Papa John's also ranks first among pizza companies in the 2008 Brand Keys Customer Loyalty Engagement Index, was honored by Restaurants & Institutions Magazine (R&I) with the 2008 Silver Award for Consumers' Choice in Chains in the pizza segment, and was named 2007 Pizza Today Chain of the Year.

SOURCE: Papa John's International, Inc.





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