When the founder of Papa John’s was caught using a racial slur, he lost his company. John Schnatter resigned after the recording of him blatantly abusing the N-word on a marketing call was released to the public. Since then, the company has struggled to distance itself from Schnatter and all the bad publicity he drew toward the restaurant chain. Now, Papa John’s Pizza has announced a new logo and a slight name change that will help put Schnatter’s connection to the company into the distant past.
The name change is actually quite simple. Instead of calling the restaurant chain Papa John’s, it will now be called Papa Johns. The brand simply dropped the apostrophe from the name, which indicates that there is more than one John involved with the company. This grammatical change helps the company step aside from its damning connection to Schnatter and his racism.
“We’re thrilled to open a headquarters office in such an energetic and diverse region,” CEO Rob Lynch Lynch said of the Atlanta HQ. “Metro Atlanta’s deep talent pool and its world-class airport connecting us to the domestic and international markets that are key to our brand’s future will accelerate our long-term growth.”
The pizza company also sold some of its land in Kentucky. Because they’re planning to pick up their operation and move it over to Georgia, they decided to sell available land to Baptist Health so they could create a future hospital in that location.
In the press release, Papa Johns also explained that these changes were being made to celebrate their growth and future. The company is hoping that by changing its name slightly, it will be able to escape the negative connotations associated with Schnatter’s racist comments.
