The T Zone

I probably mentioned my previous employ at Papa John’s earlier. It’s the only real job I’ve had other than my current one at Smiley Media. If you’re anything like me (is anyone?), then you might assume there’s no room for life changing innovation at a major pizza chain. However, you’d be wrong.

When we were hungry, we’d make ourselves a pizza. It’s possible that you’re not supposed to do that, but it was a laid back environment. My boss was my friend, as were most of my coworkers. Deliveries would take a back seat to dough fights, and phone calls would occasionally go unanswered. Almost every day we’d each make a pizza.

I loved Papa John’s pizza. It was a good deal better than other pizza chains, and I thought I’d never get sick of it. As some of you may have experienced, working at a restaurant will make you totally sick of their food.

One day, eager to try something new, I got a medium sized dough. I stretched it to a large size to make a really thin crust. I dumped vegetables, cheese, and meat on one half, folded it in half, crimped the edge, and sent it through the conveyer-belt oven one an a half times.

When it came out, it was glorious. Because it had no sauce, it didn’t taste like a normal pizza. It tasted like the calzone it was meant to be. Eager to stamp my name onto anything and everything, I called it the T Zone.

The T Zone was a huge hit amongst my fellow employees, and until I quit shortly after it was the snack of choice around the restaurant.

After quitting, I didn’t think much of the T Zone until I saw an ad in the paper for it. Only this time it wasn’t made at Papa John’s. It was made at Pizza Hut, and they called it a P’Zone. A blatant rip off! I don’t know for sure, of course, but I’d be surprised if the P’Zone made it to market if I hadn’t created the first one at Papa Johns. It’s a small world.


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6 responses to “The T Zone”

  1. Nick Hance Avatar
    Nick Hance

    np

    o rly?

  2. Ebony Avatar
    Ebony

    I frigging love the texture and taste of Papa John’s crust – crisp on the outside, chewy on the inside. No other mass market chain pizza can touch their dough, and as any pizza lover knows, it’s the dough that counts. Sauce would be next on the list. But dough is #1.

  3. Hu_Hefner Avatar
    Hu_Hefner

    Yours sounds more like a stromboli, and less like a calzone. A true calzone contains ricotta cheese, a stromboli doesn’t. Sounds to me like you and pizza hut both ripped off the italians. The difference is that Pizza used theirs for evil corporate profit, and yours was only used for peaceful purposes.

    You should have trademarked your products name back in the day, then you could have taken pizza hut’s devil money.

  4. Ryan Avatar
    Ryan

    I live in NYC.

    It is said that you can not find better pizza anywhere in the world than you can in NYC.

    I wholly disagree.

    Papa John’s kicks the crap out of any pizza joint no matter where you are.

    I love that crap.

  5. Streetwise keeb Avatar
    Streetwise keeb

    Wow man, inventing np and the t’zone. How is it you arent a rich inventor yet?

  6. janeane Avatar
    janeane

    dang…better than new york? that’s fairly amazing. jane must try this papa john’s, then.

    and what about Austin’s Pizza? they have great pizza, too, and super fresh ingredients. (they have fresh rosemary, garlic, basil, and cilantro)

    my friend worked there for a month, and she says it’s the only place she eats pizza, because she knows how well they make it.

    and calling this entry “the t-zone” is clever, because most people will probably think it’s about acne! 😀

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