Everybody loves a good pizza. Some people like their pizza doughy, some people like theirs flat. Some people would prefer cheese in the crust, others don’t. There is, however, a specific style most restaurants must pick between. Mainstream or Traditional. What separates these 2 styles? The texture is the biggest difference between the 2 styles. Traditional usually has thinner, much crispier baked dough. Mainstream usually is very doughy, soft, and bready. Traditional pizza tends to taste more fresh, while mainstream pizza is heavily dependent on commercial addons, like sweeter sauce, salty cheese, and sometimes a side of garlic. There just so happens to be 2 pizza joints that represent these 2 styles very well who also happen to be across the street from each other. 

American Pie is one of the single greatest pizza places I’ve ever been to and tried. It’s a local restaurant in Carrollton and there doesn’t appear to be another joint anywhere, making it truly local and independent. It was founded by Max and Brenda Hartman all the way back in 2010. Max soon died in 2018, but Brenda has continued to run the restaurant with her family. They consistently participate in the community by hosting fundraisers and drives, such as Toys for Tots, and sponsoring many other organizations in Carrollton. 

Papa Johns is the other end of the spectrum. It is a fast food restaurant chain that everyone nationally and almost everyone internationally knows. They are primarily known for the ads you constantly see on TV and their delivery service. They are everything but local, having over 6,000 restaurants worldwide. Due to their widespread influence, they host national charity partnerships, such as the Shaq-a-Roni pizza, where 1$ was set aside per purchase and donated to groups like the Boy’s and Girl’s club. They also donate food, available for disaster relief wherever, and local stores will decide to host fundraisers for their community. 

Now, what do these 2 have in common? Pizza, obviously. Both are pretty philanthropic, and they can both deliver (American Pie via Doordash). However, the differences? Plentiful.

American Pie is much more centered on their community, hosting many events and having so many chairs and tables inside of their restaurant. Papa Johns is more concerned with efficiency and rapid turnover, usually only having chairs against a wall with 1 or 2 total small tables inside. They want you to get your pizza and go. American Pie has much greasier, thin slices, while Papa Johns are thicker, almost inflated, with little to no grease. They both have so many menu options, with a couple overlapping, but Papa Johns serves brownies and cookies, as opposed to American Pie’s “Party Pizza,” and they serve sandwiches, like a Philly Cheese, and breadsticks, while American Pie will serve wraps, burgers, and subs. 

While both American Pie and Papa John’s exist to serve pizza, American Pie relies on its locality and community to thrive while Papa John’s relies on delivery and efficiency to stay in business. This shows how American Pie caters toward human connection and bringing people closer, whereas Papa John’s has little to no care in the world for bringing a community like Carrollton together. Whether you want your pizza thin, traditional, new york style, main-stream style, the part that really counts is the community the pizza may bring with it. And the pizza. The pizza counts, too