Papa John’s vs. Domino’s

The team at PMsquare HQ in Chicago had a recent, heated debate about which is the better cheap pizza: Papa John’s or Domino’s. After much discussion, it was determined that there was only one way to find out – a pizza off! In this article, I will share the methods used for comparing these two iconic pizza options along with our findings.

Before I get started on the details, some of you may be wondering why we didn’t include Pizza Hut in this challenge. Frankly, there was no one willing to argue that Pizza Hut was the best and very few were willing to subject themselves to tasting it. If you find yourself in the Pizza Hut fan club, let us know in the comments why you like it, and maybe we will put it up against this winner in a future head-to-head. 

On to the competition at hand!

The Process

In order to avoid bias, we ordered two identical pizzas from each restaurant:

• Pizza 1 – following the KISS methodology (Keep It Simple Silly-face)

  • Half Pepperoni

  • Half Sausage

• Pizza 2 – adding a bit of complexity

  • Half Sausage, Pepperoni, Jalapeno

  • Half Supreme (Sausage, Pepperoni, Green Pepper, Onion, Black Olive)

We then scheduled both deliveries to arrive at the same time via online ordering.

We developed a survey to first identify bias by determining the initially preferred pizza option and then to review each individual’s feelings from the challenge. 

The Ordering and Delivery Parts

Both pizza services had online ordering options. These were the findings from the online ordering process:

In this category, Papa John’s had a little less of an intuitive online ordering process. A few other things to point out about Papa John’s:

• It wasn’t clear on their homepage where to go to start your order, as instead of having an “Order” area, they only had a “Menu” area from which you ordered.

• While customizing the pizzas, it felt like they had more options for toppings (particularly around meat toppings).

• The option to set-up a future delivery was not available until the page where you confirm your order, which was the biggest part of the delay as I was trying to find that option on each of the previous steps.

• While both pizzas were late, Papa John’s did arrive a minute or two before Domino’s.

Domino’s, on the other hand, had a fairly easy-to-follow online ordering process.  A few things to point out about Domino’s:

• The delivery fee seemed very high for inexpensive pizza.

• When customizing the pizzas, if you do not select a crust initially, the first screen limits you to only two crust options.

• Anecdotally, it felt like they had fewer topping options because they lacked basic meat toppings (like meatballs).

• The total cost after tip was 14.3% less than Papa John’s.

The Results

As I previously mentioned, both pizza orders arrived slightly late.  We are on the 3rd floor of our building, and the entry to the building can be somewhat confusing, so we ultimately were all considering the lateness we experienced acceptable. However, the Papa John’s pizzas arrived distinctly less hot than the Domino’s pizzas. 

Pizza Hack!
One of our Papa John’s loyalists pointed out that because Papa John’s uses less sauce on their pizzas than Domino’s, it is best to order extra sauce, as it helps to keep the pizza warmer for longer.

Here are a couple of pictures of what the pizzas looked like.

Papa John’s (Two on Left) and Domino’s (Two on Right)

Papa John’s (Two on Left) and Domino’s (Two on Right)

We decided to judge the taste of the pizzas on a few criteria that we felt were important to the enjoyment of pizza. Those areas were: Amount of Cheese, Amount of Sauce, Amount of Toppings, Amount of Crust, Quality of Cheese, Quality of Sauce, Quality of Toppings, Quality of Crust, Temperature, Flavor, Quality of Ingredients, and Overall Enjoyment. Here were the results of that review:

Apart from the quantitative results above, we also discussed our feelings about each pizza. The general consensus seemed to be that quality of the cheese and toppings was higher with Papa John’s, but the quality of the sauce and crust was higher with Domino’s.  We also all unanimously were disappointed with the amount and distribution of toppings on the Papa John’s pizzas when compared to the Domino’s pizzas. 

Conclusion

Not shown in the findings, we did have 2 people who originally thought they preferred one over the other switch to saying that they had no preference between the two pizzas today. While Domino’s did win most of the categories, it appeared anecdotally as though the appearance and lack of sauce and toppings on the Papa John’s pizzas were the main issues holding it back from having a better showing. Perhaps the best cheap pizza option is Papa John’s with extra sauce and extra toppings? However, today’s challenge was a head-to-head without upgrades. Therefore, and without further ado, the winner of today’s pizza head-to-head was… Domino’s! 

Be on the lookout for more fun attempts to bring data collection and analytics into our daily lives here at PMsquare, and as always, thanks for reading. 

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