Pizza is already delicious on its own, and part of what makes it great is how good the dough is.
Many popular pizza chains have tried to play with this key base by launching adventurous mashups, such as Little Caesars’ pretzel pizza, Domino’s (DMPZF) Parmesan Stuffed Crust, and Pizza Hut’s (YUM) Cheesy Bites Pizza.
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With growing competition and consumers’ attraction to trends, innovation has become an essential investment for the food industry. Hence, many chains are developing creative combinations to take over the market.
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Although it seems like pizza chains have already experimented with nearly every combination possible to make themselves stand out from the competition, there is one crust that few, if any, have yet to try.
Papa John’s introduces a new menu item.
Image source: Bloomberg/Getty Images
Papa Johns launches an innovative new menu item
Papa Johns (PZZA) is introducing the new Croissant Pizza, which combines its iconic pizza sauce and toppings with a new buttery and flaky braided croissant crust.
“As a brand built on innovation, distinction, and quality, we’re always looking to global food culture for inspiration – and turning it into exciting new experiences that stand out. We conducted extensive research to understand what consumers wanted from our next global innovation. Croissant Pizza scored highly across all markets,” said Papa Johns SVP Managing Director of International Chris Lyn-Sue in a press release.
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The pizza chain noticed the impact that croissant-related mashups, like the viral cronut and crookie, have had on food culture worldwide, and saw an opportunity to try this trend out with pizza.
“After a year in development, we’re proud to unite two beloved icons into one craveable, delicious product that brings something fresh and exciting to the QSR category,” said Lyn-Sue.
To set this new menu item apart, Papa Johns also partnered with the clothing label KidSuper Studios to design the limited-edition Papa Johns x Kid Super Hot Bag to pair with the Croissant Pizza.
As with its original pizzas, customers can personalize their Croissant Pizza with any toppings they like.
And as delicious as this innovative menu item may sound, another Papa Johns marketing strategy offers even more unexpected twists than its new braided crust.
Papa Johns makes its latest menu innovation available in new markets
The Croissant Pizza is currently only available in the United Arab Emirates. However, Papa Johns is bringing it for a limited time across participating markets, including Korea, China, Chile, and Peru.
The pizza chain has not announced plans to make the Croissant Pizza available in the U.S. Still, the fact that it will become available across diverse select markets worldwide is a good sign that, if successful, the U.S. might make the list soon.
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Papa Johns has recently updated its menu to win back customers amid a challenging environment. This month alone, the pizza chain introduced the Cheddar Crust Pizza in Canada and relaunched the Shaq-a-Roni Pizza.
In its first quarter earnings for fiscal 2025, Papa Johns’ total comparable sales declined 1.3% compared to last year. Only time will tell if these recent menu additions are good enough to flip those negative numbers.
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