Papa John's Pizza founder John Schnatter made a promise that he would search high and low to find his 1972 Z28 Camaro during his summer Road Trip. Last Wednesday, he covered the “high” part of that promise.

As the seventh stop of the multi-city tour, Papa’s Road Trip rolled into the Windy City as Schnatter attempted to set a world record for the world’s highest pizza delivery at more than 1,300 feet. Schnatter delivered more than 100 slices of pizza to the Ledge at the Skydeck Chicago.

Earlier this summer, Schnatter set out on a cross-country “Road Trip” in a replica of the Z28 he sold in 1984 to open his first Papa John’s restaurant in the back of his father’s tavern. The Papa John’s founder is offering a $250,000 finder’s fee to the person who locates his original Camaro.

“As part of our 25th anniversary celebration, when I embarked on this road trip, I promised everyone that I’d leave no stone unturned as I searched for my Camaro. It meant a lot to me,” said Schnatter. “There’s no better view than the Skydeck Chicago, so if the car is out there, I have a good shot at seeing it. By the way, I’ll have binoculars to help.”

Resting 103 stories above ground, the Ledge is a series of glass bays that extend just more than 4-feet outward from the Skydeck and offers a straight look down.

“Willis Tower has always been one of our country’s most iconic landmarks,” said Randy Stancik, general manager, Skydeck Chicago. “That tradition continues as we welcome Papa John’s world record attempt to our Skydeck.”

Schnatter was joined on this special delivery by Steve Walker. Walker, a Papa John’s delivery driver, was beaten and carjacked in suburban Chicago while working last month. Neighbors rallied together and raised $16,000 to replace his car that was crashed and burned by the carjackers. Walker, a 19-year Papa John’s team member, recently used the money to purchase a 2009 Kia Spectra.

In addition to the Skydeck delivery, Schnatter made several special stops throughout the day, including surprise deliveries to unsuspecting customers in the Chicago area.

Headquartered in Louisville, Kentucky, Papa John's International, Inc. is the world's third largest pizza company.

As ABC’s "Extreme Makeover Home Edition" crew worked around the clock for seven straight days to completely rebuild a home in Ann Arbor, Michigan, Domino’s Pizza gave back with a pizza party to show their support.  Domino’s made deliveries throughout the night of July 16 to volunteers, designers and contractors so that they could focus on completing the new house and not worry about dinner.    

“These volunteers focus their lives for seven days on one deserving family,” said Jenny Fouracre, spokesperson for Domino’s Pizza. “We support the entire crew at Extreme Makeover Home Edition and their passion to give back to the community."

Founded in 1960, Domino's Pizza operates a network of 8,773 franchised and company-owned stores in the United States and 60 international markets. 

Pizza Inn, an international pizza chain famous for its traditional and specialty pizzas, is defying recession-conservatism, having recently signed 13 new deals through its development incentive program. In addition, Pizza Inn, Inc. has one new corporate owned location under construction in the city of Fort Worth, Texas, and has signed letters of intent for 2 additional locations in the Dallas-Fort Worth metroplex; continuing their commitment to growing the company.

Offered to both new and existing franchisees, the incentive program was designed to maximize potential for domestic growth and offer flexible alternatives for franchisees who may be discouraged by the current credit crisis. The benefits included 0-percent royalty for the first full year of operation and 2-percent royalty for the second full year, easing start-up costs during the first two years of a new restaurant’s operation.
 
Existing Pizza Inn franchisees have signed on to develop additional locations, further demonstrating their dedication and re-investment in the brand. Two current franchisees have signed agreements to open five locations in the greater Spartanburg area, while other existing franchisees will be opening locations in southern North Carolina, Knoxville, Tennessee, Ardmore, Oklahoma, and Pontotoc, Mississippi.
 
Pizza Inn has also attracted veterans in the franchise industry who bring experience from such heavyweights as Subway, Hardee's and Sonic, among others. Three new franchise groups have signed on to develop locations in Abilene and Ft. Worth, Texas, and Jesup, Georgia.
 
"The current economic environment presents an excellent growth opportunity for us, as families continue to seek more economical dining options,” said Charlie Morrison, CEO of Pizza Inn. “We look forward to expanding our brand throughout these areas and serving up taste, quality and value with our family-oriented atmosphere. These new agreements are a result of our incentive program and the addition of Madison Jobe as vice president of development to the Pizza Inn team. Given his strong industry reputation and his ability to attract quality individual and multi-unit development partners to our system these are the results we expected.”

Publicly traded Pizza Inn franchises approximately 300 restaurants and owns two restaurants with annual, domestic and international chain-wide sales of approximately $135 million.

Pizza Patrón Q2 Sales increase 4.15 percent