Papa Johns’ customers are big fans of the brand’s iconic garlic sauce. Now the pizza chain makes it extra-easy to dip into that sauce with the creation of the Papa Dippa.
“We know our fans are obsessed with our Special Garlic Dipping Sauce that we send out with every pizza,” said Thomas Smith, senior director of culinary and corporate chef at Atlanta-based Papa Johns. “So we thought, let’s create a dippable pizza and add three more garlic-centric sauces to expand the dipping and dunking experience.”
The Papa Dippa launched as a limited-time offer in mid-September systemwide across 3,300 U.S. locations. The new item is crafted from Papa Johns’ signature pizza dough but cut into 16 strips instead of traditional triangular slices. The strips are sturdy enough to dunk without falling apart in the dips, each of which has its own flavor profile, color and viscosity, said Smith. The three new sauces plus the original garlic are showcased in individual cups and packaged with the pizza.
Sticking with a garlic theme
Papa Johns is known as the restaurant chain that always sends out the extras, like pepperoncini and condiments, said Smith, and it has always encouraged dipping, so this is a natural evolution of the brand. It also taps into the fun, tactile experience of dipping and customizing food with sauces—a huge trend on menus.
Smith and his team have developed lots of sauces over the years, including a spicy garlic a while back. “For the dippable pizza, we wanted to have a theme. Our team of chefs probably started out with 30 ideas on paper, including a truffle lineup, a sweet and spicy lineup and a garlic lineup,” he said. “But we have ownership of garlic sauce, so we went with that as the theme.” The team landed on five garlic variations (aside from the original) that went through further R&D.
Those five sauces were whittled down to three through consumer testing, then Papa Johns worked with a supplier partner to formulate and pack them into new dip cups. The three new sauces are Roasted Garlic Parmesan, a creamy Caesar-style blend with roasted garlic and aged Parmesan; Garlic Hot Honey, a sweet and spicy sauce infused with garlic and chili flakes; and Creamy Garlic Pesto, a rich, herbaceous dip flavored with basil and Parmesan.
The Papa Dippa comes with three new sauces plus the original garlic version.
While the sauces were developed specifically for the Papa Dippa, Smith can see them being cross-utilized on wings, drizzled on classic pizzas and even used as a base sauce for pizza, as in the case of the Roasted Garlic Parmesan.
Perfecting the dippers
The Papa Dippa uses the same six-ingredient dough ball that forms the crust of the chain’s original 14-inch pizza, but the steps are slightly different to assure maximum dippability.
Smith couldn’t give away 40 years of brand secrets, but he did provide some insights into the process. “The first step we do for a traditional pizza, we don't quite do, changing how we stretch out the dough, or how we hand slap the dough,” he said. This one tweak also made it easy for the crews to understand. “We basically told them to just skip the very first step, and everything else is the same. Finding ways to make it efficient for our crews is another huge component of the development process,” Smith added.
Deciding on the combination of pizza sauces—even which one goes down first and which one is used in a squeeze bottle—was the next challenge. A traditional pizza has a very flavorful sauce that might overpower the dips, especially the pesto version, so Smith landed on a combination of Alfredo sauce and pizza sauce. This balance of flavors allows the dip sauces to shine, which was the goal.
Then the team tackled the cheese, choosing an Italian-style three-cheese blend of provolone, asiago and fontina already in the ingredient pantry. “The cheese is a flavor driver, but the style [and moisture content] of these cheeses also made for a sturdier dipper that better holds the pepperoni,” Smith said. “Nothing slides off into the dip cup.” Mozzarella, on the other hand, was not a good fit.
Smith explained how the dip sauces complement rather than fight with each other. “If you were to dip a strip into one and then the other, it wouldn’t ruin the experience. You’re not going to have a bad combination,” he said.
The Papa Dippa is a one-topping item, and customers can choose their favorite. But at the end of the day, pepperoni is still the number one pizza topping, said Smith. So the marketing materials all show a pepperoni-topped Papa Dippa, but Papa Johns’ other toppings are available, too.
Innovation extends to the packaging
The packaging is a huge component of this product introduction, said Smith. The four sauce cups sit in a caddy of sorts in the box surrounded by the Papa Dippa cut into strips. “The box is designed to make the experience easy, fun and interactive, as dipping and dunking should be,” he said. “Even the bold, colorful print and copy on the box is fun and denotes a kind of playfulness.”
The Papa Dippa is selling for $13.99 for a limited time, but the sauces are available a la carte. “We didn’t want to pigeonhole the three new sauces into this format, so customers can order one or more on their own or as a flight of three and enjoy them with breadsticks, cheese sticks or any other pizza,” said Smith.
He’s also not ruling out a Papa Dippa 2.0. And there’s lots of “white space” for the chain to go after value and snacking, where Papa Johns’ competitors are. “But we believe in quality first and foremost,” he emphasized.
Smith also believes in Papa Johns’ proprietary dough and crust as a platform for inspiration and innovation. He’s always looking at new ways to stuff, fold, cut, resize and bake the dough into items that differentiate the menu.
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