Slice, Dice and Devour

Papa John's uses sweet-tasting sauce and tangy ads to win market share in the pizza wars. Can anyone stoppa the Papa?

You know you're a red-hot pepperoni when rivals attack you and employees tremble whenever you come around. A visit from John Schnatter, the perfectionist CEO of the fast-growing Papa John's International pizza chain, makes "the hair stand up on the back of your neck," says Tracy Friedlein, who manages a company-owned pizzeria in Louisville, Ky. "You run to do everything to prove yourself." But Pizza Hut chief Mike Rawlings, who has brought a federal lawsuit charging that Papa John's "better ingredients, better pizza" campaign is false and misleading, sees Schnatter in a harsher light. "They have been spreading misconceptions about us,"...

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