10 Things You Didn’t Know About Papa John’s Founder John Schnatter

John Schatner

You see him in almost every commercial for Papa John’s Pizza, reciting the infamous tagline: “Better Ingredients. Better Pizza. Papa John’s.” However, did you know that the guy you see in all those commercials, the spokesperson for Papa John’s, is actually the company’s founder? John Schnatter, spokesperson, chairman, and CEO of Papa John’s, has created one of the most successful food franchises in the country. Here are 10 things you may not have known about John Schnatter.

1. His Net Worth—While Papa John’s is a very well-known pizza franchise, whose commercials flood the airwaves, I was still surprised to hear that the company rakes in over $1 billion in revenue annually. Thanks to Papa John’s enormous success, Schnatter’s net worth is $600 million, making him much more successful than numerous Hollywood stars.

2. He went to Ball State University—Schnatter attended Ball State University in Indiana for college. Us News & World Report has ranked Ball State University’s business program, the Miller College of Business, in the top 15 in the nation since 1995.

3. His Camaro—Schnatter sold his 1971 Chevrolet Camaro back in 1983 in order to help his father out with his struggling business and used the remaining money that he received to start up Papa John’s. Ultimately, in 2009, Schnatter was able to find the original Camaro that he sold and buy it back.

4. His connection to the University of Louisville—After Schnatter donated $5 million to the University of Louisville, Papa John’s gained the naming rights to Papa John’s Cardinal Stadium, which is used by the university’s football team. By making further donations, Schnatter has ensured that Papa John’s keeps the rights to the year 2040.

5. He’s religious—Schnatter identifies himself as a practicing Christian evangelist. He is a member of the Southeast Christian Church.

6. He’s a republican—During the 2012 election, Schnatter welcomed presidential candidate Mitt Romney to his home for a fundraiser. Schnatter has also found himself under scrutiny from critics after making some controversial comments about the Affordable Care Act.

7. He serves a lot of pizza to a lot of different places—Papa John’s is pretty huge in the United States. There is at least one store in every one of the 50 states and over 4,000 in total in the country. However, Schnatter’s reach goes even beyond the U.S. and extends to 30 other countries. That’s a whole lot of pizza to make.

8. He lives in Kentucky—Schnatter resides in Kentucky with his family (his wife and three children) on a limestone mansion state valued at around $7.5 million. He also has homes in Florida and Utah.

9. He’s a math whiz—In line with his business expertise, it is reported that Schnatter was a very gifted math student back in high school, who used the “analytics” that he learned about and mastered to eventually help build his company. According Schnatter, he received a 790 out of 800 in the math section of his SAT but only achieved a 200 on the verbal portion.

10. He’s very charitable—Papa John’s has given more than $30 million to different charities across the United States. Furthermore, in May 2009, Schnatter, himself, was named the honorary Chair of the Ride to Conquer Cancer, a charity event that benefits Louisville’s Norton Cancer Institute.

Photo by Rob Kim/Getty Images

Written by Chris King

Chris has been writing for TVOvermind, Uncoached, and Worthly for two years and has written about numerous different television shows, news events, and pop culture topics. He is a graduate of Saint Joseph's University in Philadelphia, where he majored in English and Film. Contact him through Twitter (@ckinger13).