How does Papa Johns bake its pizzas?

What Pizza Oven Does Papa Johns Use to Bake Pizzas?

Papa Johns began in a broom closet in Indiana and has since grown into one of the world's largest pizza chains, boasting more than 5,000 locations worldwide. The chain's fast service and quality pizza are due in part to its use of conveyor ovens. Most locations use an appliance similar to Middleby Marshall's WOW! impingement ovens.

How Conveyor Pizza Ovens Work

Pizza conveyor ovens are deceptively simple. After an employee stretches the dough and adds toppings, they place the pizza on one end of the conveyor belt, ensure the correct settings, and wait for the pizza to exit the cooking chamber as a fully cooked pie. Internally, a much more complicated process—known as impingement cooking—is at work. Impingement involves forcing numerous jets of hot air onto the product's surface as it moves through the cooking chamber. Middleby Marshall reports its conveyor ovens cook 30 percent faster than standard conveyor ovens.1 Learn more about the difference between impingement and regular conveyor ovens here.

The Benefits of Conveyor Pizza Ovens

Papa Johns' conveyor ovens increase its pizza-baking speed and workspace efficiency. These ovens offer benefits that align with high-volume service:

  • Impingement cooking: Provides quick baking without sacrificing quality
  • Belt-driven operation: Set cooking time requires little employee supervision
  • Stackable design: Holds up to four cooking belts to maximize output while saving floor space
  • Removable parts: Designed for easy cleaning
  • Digital controls: Programmable for straightforward operation
  • Product sensor: Energy-saving mode during downtimes

How Papa Johns' Pizza Ovens Can Improve Your Commercial Kitchen

Pizza parlors utilize many cooking methods and have numerous pizza oven models to choose from when purchasing a new one. High-volume pizza operations can use ovens similar to Papa Johns' conveyor ovens to focus on consistency and quick output. Their automatic cooking features help streamline training, reduce user error, and free up employees for other essential tasks. While the conveyors use a large amount of floor space, their stackable design enables easy expansion without the need to increase your kitchen footprint.

Find Conveyor Pizza Ovens at KaTom to Efficiently Serve Pizza

KaTom offers a large selection of conveyor pizza ovens. Along with Middleby Marshall, KaTom features leading brands in high-speed pizza cooking like Lincoln, Vollrath, and TurboChef. Take time to look through KaTom's products or talk to our sales team to see what kind of pizza oven would help boost speed and consistency. Shop KaTom today to find a conveyor pizza oven that fits your pizza operation's needs.

Refrences

  1. Complete Oven Product Line Middleby Marshall. Accessed May 2025.