Papa John Clarifies Eating '40 Pizzas in 30 Days' Comment

The internet went into a frenzy when the former CEO of Papa John's, John Schnatter, claimed to have eaten 40 pizzas in 30 days. While this seems outlandish if there's one person that could stomach this much pizza it would be Papa John himself. Yet, Schnatter clarified his comments during an appearance on the H3 podcast.

"Well, I didn't say I eaten 40 pizzas in 30 days. I said I had 40 pizzas in 30 days. When I said I had a pizza, it means I'm inspecting. I’m not eating every pizza," Schnatter explained to hosts, Ethan and Hila Klein at around the 16:30 mark. "I may be eating parts of pizzas."

Schnatter's comment came during a sitdown interview with WDRB News in Nov. 2019. He was trying to explain the quality of Papa John's pizza has dropped since he was forced to resign as the CEO. This led him to say he's eaten 40 pizzas in 30 days because he's testing out the product.

Surprisingly, his pizza consumption has dropped over the years. Schnatter tells H3 that he used to eat 12-15 different slices of pizza a week. He now only samples eight to nine pizzas.

Schnatter stepped down as CEO of Papa John's in 2018. The pressure to leave started to mount after he was caught on tape using a racial slur during a conference call. Yet, he wasn't asked to sell his stake in the company, allowing him to own 30 percent of Papa John's. Schnatter's stock in the company is worth around $500 million.

In Dec. 2019, Schnatter filed a lawsuit against the creative advertising firm, Laundry Service, and its parent company. Schnatter claims that the leaked phone call revealing the racial slur was a breach of contract.