Grand Valley State University Cuts Ties with Papa John’s
Those looking for a slice at GVSU have some changes coming.
The Grand Valley Lanthorn reports that Papa John's Pizza will no longer be served on campus.
The decision comes after Papa John’s Pizza CEO John Schnatter reportedly used a racial slur during a conference call in May of 2018. Schnatter resigned after the incident became public; it was first reported by Forbes in July.
The fallout for Papa John's continues with organizations like Grand Valley State University cutting ties.
In August, the Papa John’s location in the Commons on GVSU’s Allendale campus was replaced by Oath Pizza.
GVSU Vice President of Finance Greg Sanial told the Lanthorn,
“We had started internal discussions about replacing Papa John’s in the spring. Sales have been declining, and the brand has not evolved as you’d expect it to do in that pizza market. We had sort of targeted the 2020 time frame for that change, but when the founder made those inappropriate comments on that conference call, we accelerated that process; those comments just don’t agree with the core principles here at Grand Valley State.”
The remaining Papa John's on GVSU's campus, in the Connection, is set to close in April. What will replace it has yet to be determined.