18 Pros and Cons of Working for Papa Johns

Papa John’s is one of the largest pizza chains in America and has a decent reputation as a workplace.

A lot depends on local management, but generally, workers are happy.

It is a good place to work for college students, or people wanting their first job.

The one big drawback is the lack of career opportunities or advancement opportunities.

You can move up to management, but there isn’t a step higher.

Pros of Working for Papa John’s

Flexible hours

Everyone except the general manager is a part-time employee.

The hours are flexible and the company tries to give you a schedule that will work with your life as much as possible.

Local management can have a big impact here and can make this better or worse.

Even so, work-life balance is a positive mentioned in most reviews by employees.

You don’t get to choose your hours every week, but they try to work with you to fit your life situation with scheduling.

Free food

Either free or deeply discounted, food while you are at work.

This is a big plus for college students operating on a tight budget.

Some get tired of the food, but it is still a bonus for working at a restaurant.

Some stores limit what discounts are on, but you can get at least a 50 percent discount, and free in some cases.

Some stores may have slightly different policies.

Some may offer free food while there, and a 50 percent discount if you have it delivered, for example.

Good benefits plan

Papa John’s is a little different in that it offers many benefits for part-time workers.

There is medical, dental, vision, and life insurance available.

You get paid vacation and paid sick days.

The company also matches contributions to a 401k plan.

Delivery drivers also get tips.

Papa John’s is one of the most generous fast food companies with benefits for part-time workers.

Many companies offer no benefits at all to part-time workers.

Positive environment

Local management can make this good or bad, but in general, Papa John’s has a reputation for having a positive working environment.

Crew members are generally young people about the same age, so they have things in common.

This helps people get along better naturally.

Working conditions are often cited as positive in employee reviews.

The company tries to create a good environment for employees, and local management has a lot of input there as to whether that actually happens or not.

Good first job

It is hard to get a job when you are young and have never had a job before.

Almost all employers want people with experience and expertise to do the job at hand.

Working at Pappa Johns involves making pizza according to a general plan.

There is not a lot to learn, so experience is not a requirement.

You can learn the job quickly and it is not very complicated.

Some advancement possible

You can become a team leader, or an assistant manager if you work there a decent amount of time and do a good job.

It will help your resume to have “assistant manager” listed.

There are some opportunities then, but this is not a career spot for most people unless you are in senior management.

Easy work

There are rushes at times when the store gets very busy and that can be hectic.

Those times do not last long.

Most of the time, it is fairly slow-paced and there is very little pressure.

There is no heavy lifting, not much moving around, and nothing very physically strenuous about working at this pizza restaurant.

It is a fairly simple, easy job except for the few times it gets busy.

Low stress or pressure

As mentioned, it can get busy at times, but those times are the exception rather than the rule.

There are certain standards that have to be met, and they are not terribly hard.

If you meet basic standards, there will be very little pressure or stress on the job.

A bad manager can make things harder than they need to be, but for the most part, Papa John’s is not a stressful place to work.

Easy to transfer

If you move for college, or for some other reason, and you work at Papa John’s, it will be relatively easy to get a job at another Papa John’s in your new location.

The company works with people in this situation as they want to keep good employees.

Cons of Working at Papa Johns

Not much advancement

Papa John’s is a first job for most people, and it is not a place to have a career unless you get involved with corporate headquarters.

You can get promoted to shift leader, or to a manager’s job, but they do not pay a lot more than regular workers are paid.

The general manager’s job is the next step, and that is about as far as you can go at an individual store.

There are some bad managers

You can be unlucky and land at a store with bad or poor management.

These people make easy jobs hard, and make good working conditions go bad as well.

You really cannot tell which one it will be until you start working there unless you know someone already working there.

While working there gets a lot of positive reviews, a local situation can be made difficult by bad management.

The pay is not great

While there are good benefits, the company does not pay that well.

It is average among pizza restaurants, and maybe a bit below in some areas.

It is a first job for most people, so maybe one should not expect great pay.

Many reviewers say the low pay is a drawback.

Raises are also not given regularly.

A lot of turnover

Restaurants have a lot of turnover, so there will always be people coming and going.

This is only a drawback when you have people you like to move away from the job.

The pay is the main reason people move on from these lower-level jobs.

On the positive side, it’s fairly easy to get a job because they always need people.

It is perhaps just the nature of the fast food business.

Irate customers

You will have to deal with the public, and at times people get angry and overreact when their order is not just right.

Most employees will have to deal with the public in some capacity, and it can be difficult if you do not have people skills to match.

No one likes dealing with irate customers, and it is a problem with any job where you interact with the public.

Just follow company policy and count on your fellow workers to support you.

The slow season

Summer can be a slow time for pizza sales, and that means the store will need fewer employees.

Often, everyone’s hours are cut back to be fair to everyone.

This means less money for you.

During slow seasons, you may find your hours and income shrinking.

On the other side, there are busier seasons when you will have more hours available.

Delivering pizza

Delivery drivers can make good money if they get a lot of tips.

Many do well, and it is one of the better jobs at Papa John’s.

The downside is you have to use your own vehicle, which causes wear and tear.

The type of driving you do is also not good for your vehicle’s health.

If you don’t get a lot of tips, you will not make much money.

Delivering pizza then, is a high-risk, high-reward job that can be either really good or really bad.

The smell

Most people like pizza, but too much of a good thing can turn into a negative.

You can get tired of eating pizza on lunch breaks, for example, no matter how good the pizza is.

You can get food there free, or at a deep discount, and that may tempt you to eat a lot of it at first.

Familiarity breeds contempt, as it is said.

You could find yourself getting tired of pizza, and even not liking it anymore after a while.

Cross-training jobs

You may be cross-trained at different jobs.

That is usually a good thing, but it can be a sneaky way of getting more work out of individual employees.

They are often short-staffed, which means you may have to pick up the slack and do extra work.