Thinking outside the box: how big pizza is embracing sourdough

In a leafy corner of Hoxton, a gaggle of media personalities and influencers gather for the launch of a mysterious new pizza joint. Called Father of Jack, the restaurant has been generating curiosity and intrigue on social channels for its claim it will serve ‘the best sourdough pizza’ in the capital; quite a statement given the breadth of competition across the city.

A range of pizzas are served, with toppings including salami and n’duja, chicken and pesto, and pepper and pepperoncini. The founder, Parker Jones, is in attendance, delivering slices to his hungry guests and gauging the initial feedback.

All, however, is not as it seems, and the evening culminates with a big reveal… Father of Jack is actually a Papa Johns pop-up. The sourdough pizzas served have been shipped over from a nearby delivery kitchen; Parker Jones is an actor playing a part.

Whether the influencers agree it is the best sourdough in the city is neither here nor there. But as marketing stunts go, it’s certainly inventive - and in a segment so saturated increasingly important to gain an edge. After all, capturing consumer attention can be tricky when you’re a long established large scale operator with a singular core product.

As Papa Johns marketing director Rebecca Carroll says: “Modern food culture is shaped by hype and what’s trending online. The idea [behind Father of Jack] is that it will challenge those preconceptions, strip away the labels and reputations, and let the pizza talk for itself.”

Even more so, the launch of Papa Johns’s sourdough range reflects an emerging shift where the biggest pizza chains are exploring more independent-inspired styles and artisanal approaches amid intense pressure from smaller-scale competitors.

“The independents have almost re-educated the market,” says Maurice Abboudi, an expert in the field who founded Famous Moe’s Pizza back in 1993 and was later director of business development for Domino’s.

“In the past it was brands like Pizza Hut, Perfect Pizza and Deep Pan Pizza leading the way, but they’ve been surpassed by the likes of Pizza Pilgrims, Rudy’s and Yard Sale. There’s 101 of these guys out there now evolving the space.”

Echoing this, Linda Haden, insight lead at Lumina Intelligence, describes the pizza market as becoming more fragmented and distinct at the same time, with independents and smaller, regional chains leading the way.

“First, there are American regional styles,” she explains. “Detroit, New York, New Haven, Chicago thin-crust and St Louis, formats that were essentially invisible on British menus a decade ago are now forging their way into the mainstream. The second track is Italian. The Neapolitan revolution that Franco Manca, Pizza Pilgrims and Rudy’s led through the 2010s has become the new baseline.”

The space has subsequently moved on to Roman-style pinsa, Sicilian sfincione, and what some operators are beginning to call ‘London style’: chewy Neapolitan-style dough combined with the structure and foldability of a New York slice, built on slow-fermented starters of 48 hours or more.

“The UK pizza market in 2026 is not one market,” Haden says. “It is several overlapping ones, each with different consumer expectations, different economic tolerances, and different competitive dynamics.”

The Domino’s affect

Amid this rapid period of change and progression, Papa Johns isn’t the only big-name player jostling for attention. Mere days after the Father of Jack stunt, Domino’s came out with its own range of thinner, Italian-style pizzas.

The Italiano’s range features five premium pizzas built on a hand-stretched crust that’s supposed to deliver an ‘elevated eating experience’.

Options include the Classico chicken and pesto with vine-ripened tomato sauce, mozzarella, chicken breast strips, tomatoes, green and red peppers, red onion, and topped with a basil pesto drizzle; and the Gusto goat’s cheese and pepperoni featuring vine-ripened tomato sauce, mozzarella, pepperoni, goat’s cheese crumb, red onion and Peppadew piquanté peppers.

Then there’s fast-growing franchise business Caprinos, which billed itself last month as the ‘first national pizza brand to launch Detroit-style pizza’, known for its rectangular shape and thick crust. Initially being trialled across 11 locations in the group’s rapidly expanding estate of around 120 sites, the seven-strong Detroit pizza range uses a new in-house dough recipe with toppings ranging from classic cheesy and pepperoni options to the more unusual shawarma and tapenade.

For Caprinos, the decision to invest in the development of a Detroit-style range, a process that has taken several months to perfect, isn’t just about tapping into an emerging trend, it is also about broadening its portfolio and potentially move into the QSR space.

According to co-founder Khalil Rehman, the pizzas are designed to be cooked within seven minutes and can be eaten on the go. In time, it is hoped the proposition could unlock a new kiosk-style format focused squarely (pardon the pun) on Detroit pizza, which could be rolled out into high footfall locations such as food markets, travel hubs, hospitals and shopping centres.

“The format of Detroit-style pizza, and the way we serve it, makes it really suitable for on-the-go consumption,” Rehman says. “It is not the usual slice-by-slice way of eating pizza.

“Our core is – and will continue to be – round pizzas that consumers love to share with friends or family. However, our Detroit-style range will allow us to extend trading periods throughout the day, and attract a new demographic of consumer or move into new location types, which is really exciting.”

From a capex perspective, Haden says adding a new pizza style to an existing menu is ‘genuinely accessible’.

“A Detroit-style pizza requires a rectangular steel pan and a willingness to hold finished pizzas slightly differently. Roman pinsa uses a lighter, more digestible dough blend of wheat and rice flour that can be easily be reproduced without any additional equipment. Sourdough bases require time and technique, which takes up a lot of operational bandwidth, but not of capital.”

The barriers for operators are technique, consistency and positioning. “Slow fermentation is not difficult to begin, but it is difficult to maintain across volume, seasonal temperature variation and staff turnover,” Haden adds.

“A brilliant sourdough base produced by a chef-owner at a single-site independent becomes a significant operational challenge when replicated across twenty or 200 sites. That is precisely why chains that attempt artisanal formats often produce a version that consumers find unconvincing.”

Then there’s the question, commercially, of headroom and visibility. “When every restaurant, pub, supermarket and QSR chain is offering pizza, adding another style does not automatically attract attention,” she continues.

“The format has to come with a positioning story clear enough to cut through a very crowded marketplace. The operators who have done this well have built the style and the story simultaneously. The style is not the differentiator. The story of why this style, here, made with precision, love and passion, is the differentiator.”

Gimmick or long-term offer?

With that in mind, how might Papa Johns and Domino’s innovations pan out? “The big question for me is: is it a gimmick or a long-term offer,” notes Abboudi. “People might try it out when it launches, but beyond the trial stage, will it drive incremental sales and frequency?”

From Papa Johns’ point of view, its sourdough offering ensures its range is tailored to new tastes. Following a tumultuous few years, the group underwent a brand reset last year, underpinned by a new creative platform and campaign called ’Devoted to the Dough’ designed to differentiate and evolve its positioning by spotlighting quality, taste, and innovation.

The innovation makes Papa Johns the first major pizza delivery chain to introduce a dedicated sourdough range, however, it is not designed or intended to replace its signature American-style pizza.

“Our traditional core range is still people’s preferred choice, but this is an opportunity to grow occasions, rather than a replacement of an existing range,” says Carroll. “They can have sourdough when they’re not feeling like something as heavy.”

Domino’s makes a similar case, describing the Italiano’s range as designed to complement its existing range and cater to ‘those moments when customers are looking for something a little more premium at home, while maintaining the convenience, speed and consistency Domino’s is known for’.

“Italiano’s is all about giving our customers more choice and more ways to enjoy Domino’s,” says Nicola Frampton, CEO of Domino’s Pizza Group. “We’re seeing that for certain occasions, whether that’s a date night or a relaxed evening in, people are increasingly looking for something that feels a bit more like a restaurant experience at home, and this range allows us to tap into those moments.”

In both instances, Abboudi says the ultimate success of the products will come down to whether they taste right. “It’s got to be good, deliver well and be executed simply. Those are the practical implications.” If they do that then it could be a great marketing boost. The World Cup is coming up, he adds, and that’s a big pizza time so a good moment to launch a new product.

But, he cautions: “Consumers always end up going back to the basics, the pepperoni or the margherita. Everyone used to have cheese-filled crusts, but that trend has died away, like cheeseburger pizzas.

“If they execute right and the product is good, though, it will last.”

This article first appeared on Restaurant’ sister title MCA. Subscribe to its daily newsletter HERE.