"We are not only the official pizza of the NFL and the official pizza of the Super Bowl, we are also the official pizza of the Denver Broncos. We are involved heavily with Peyton Manning and we are excited about this new promotion," John Schnatter, Papa John's Owner/CEO, said over the phone on Thursday.
Schnatter opened up the first Papa John's Pizza restaurant in 1984 and since then his company has grown into a fast food powerhouse in both the marketing world and food sales.
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With over 3,800 locations (21 of which are owned by Manning) in all 50 states and 29 different countries, Papa John's now brings in over $2.6 billion in annual sales. After landing a deal with the NFL in 2010, Papa John's is now heavily affiliated with football—you can count on seeing multiple Papa John's commercials run on FOX this weekend during the Super Bowl.
One of those commercials will feature Manning and former NFL quarterback Joe Montana.
"Peyton has been wonderful for our brand and he's been wonderful for the Broncos. What you see with him is what you get—he's a great family man and he's always prepared and always wanting to get better—a lot like Papa John's. We just want to get better at what we do. He is stupendous."
Papa John's is also rolling out a new "Double Cheeseburger" pizza this week and Papa told me their next plan is to find out what is Peyton's favorite pizza and toppings are so they can debut a "Peyton Manning special" next.
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