Top 35 John Schnatter Quotes

Everybody wants to own quality, but quality takes time, and it takes money.

We don’t promote or advocate people eating a whole pizza.

I have a goal of being the No.1 pizza company in the world.

You have to make mistakes to get better. I used to make a mistake, and I kind of get down on myself. And now I make a mistake, and I go, ‘Okay, did you learn from this? Did you stick to the facts, and did you stick with the logic? Did you have the analytics?’

With a head coach, you make a mistake and learn. With a king, you make a mistake and get your head bitten off.

In school, I always had to work harder than others.

I found something I loved to do when I was 15 – making pizzas.

If you are a success, you can take care of people; you can give a lot to your community.

Companies like Papa John’s are largely a collection of small independent businesses.

I think if there was a sharing in the ups, a sharing in the downs, the country would not be as divided.

Pizza’s actually healthy for you if you don’t eat too much of it. If you eat one or two slices, it’s very nutritious.

When you have built a $3 billion company out of a broom closet, I think you are entitled to a nice house.

At 22, I had something I loved to do – make pizza – and something I was good at: running a business.

Sales went crazy when we made the pizza perfect.

Better ingredients, better pizza – it’s not a slogan. It’s a way of life.

I buried my dad on a Thursday and showed up for work on Friday.

I realized the world spins without me having to spin it.

I was born and raised in the state of Indiana, and it’s where I started Papa John’s, so this state and our partnership with the Pacers hold a special place in my heart.

I had this dream of starting a pizza business since college. I came up with the name, menu, and recipes back then.

I am the American Dream.

I just like building stuff.

Many in the media reported that I said Papa John’s is going to close stores and cut jobs because of Obamacare. I never said that.

Regardless of what the minimum wage is, you really have the market wage. And if we’re not taking care of our people, then we’re going to lose good talent, at every level.

I just don’t like making mistakes.

The original goal for Papa John’s was to make $50 grand a year and have $50 grand in the bank so I could get a date.

I love my business. I love my employees.

It was Labor Day weekend in 1983, and Dad hired me to run Mick’s Lounge, a bar he co-owned, for $200 a week. The business was nearly bankrupt. But I said, ‘Dad, I can fix it.’ It was the most natural thing I’d ever done. It just made sense to me.

The board gets upset because I won’t take a raise, but I’ve got plenty of money.

America in 2016 is on the path to becoming what Germany was in 1867.

If you don’t take care of the people doing the heavy lifting, they will burn your castle down.

You’ve got to have free markets with limited government, with the proper amount of regulation where you don’t jam entrepreneurship.

Getting big is just a byproduct of getting better.

I don’t condone racism. I don’t condone prejudice.

Pizza’s really nutritious; it’s good for you. You can’t sit down and eat a whole carton of eggs, and you can’t sit down and eat a whole pizza.

I didn’t like the bar business.