Papa John's Pizza unveils new logo and store designs

Papa John's Pizza is giving its brand a big makeover, and on Tuesday, Nov. 16, a new logo and store design were unveiled. The company also showed new advertising designs that will be used in all of the store outlets from now on.

CNN Business noted that in the new Papa John's logo, the word "pizza" had been eliminated, plus the green border surrounding the brand's name was also removed. The new design is quite simple and only shows "Papa Johns" in red block font. And this is not all, as can be seen in the name, customers will not find the possessive apostrophe anymore in the word "John's."

Some observers think that the changes may have something to do with the pizza chain's move to distance itself further from its controversial founder and ex-chief John Schnatter, but the company's chief commercial officer, Max Wetzel, denied this and explained that the updates are geared toward highlighting the restaurant's ingredients and give the brand and its stores a refreshing look.

He added that in Papa Johns advertising and messaging, they will now be using new shades based on the brand's main ingredients, such as red to represent the tomato, white to represent the pizza and bread dough, and green for basil. Wetzel also mentioned that the new fonts in the brand's advertising are inspired by Papa Johns' stretchy dough.

"The loyalty and love people have for Papa Johns have been built on our well-known promise of Better Ingredients and better pizza. Today, we are signaling to the world that Papa Johns is 'Hungry for Better,'" Wetzel said in a press release. "We are evolving how the Papa Johns experience comes to life across all touchpoints while remaining true to what got us where we are today and bringing to life our continued aspirations to improve and grow."

Customers can expect to see gradual changes at Papa Johns, including the stores' kitchen and floor plan, where the layout will be more open to make it easier to take and pick up orders for a self-service checkout. The restaurants' interiors will be decorated with photos of food items, illustration accents, and the menu boards will now be TV screens.