Papa John: Let Them Eat Cake

John Schnatter, AKA Papa John, doesn't like healthcare. In fact, all through the election, he supported Mitt Romney, and even raised money--no doubt off pizza--for the Romney/Ryan campaign, because he doesn't like healthcare.

See, under the Affordable Health Care Act, any company with 50 or more employees, any employee working fulltime [30 hours or more per week] need to be provided health insurance. Schnatter claims that the health care reform will force his company to increase pizza prices by 10-14 cents a pie, which he says will cost him some $5-8 million a year, or else he'll be forced to fire employees to stay under the fifty employee line.

Let's see how his thoughts stack up:

Last year, Papa John’s International had some $1.218 billion in revenue, with total operating expenses of $1.131 billion. If Papa John's math is accurate that Obamacare will cost his company $5-8 million more annually that translates to a 0.4% to 0.7% expense increase.

Now, it's hard to figure out what that 0.4% might costs per pizza, given the different sizes available and all those tasty toppings from which to choose. But, for the sake of argument, if Papa John’s sells exactly half medium/half large specialty pizzas, then averaging that product yields a .86% price increase, which is well below the range of what billionaire John Schnatter says Obamacare will cost him. In fact, his prices would need to increase from 3-to4 cents per pizza so that his employees can have health care.

"SchnatterLand"

Now, that is a cost that maybe John Schnatter, who lives in a castle with a moat, mind you, doesn't want to pay, but let's not forget that just last September, the company announced that it would be giving away 2 million free pizzas. That would be the equivalent of $24 million to $32 million in pizza revenue.

And that would be okay, because it was done to promote brand awareness and increase business, not allow people, Papa John employee people access to health care.

Also to be noted, ever since John Schnatter bitched about having to charge more for pizzas so his employees could be  covered under Obamacare,  shares in Papa John’s International took a bit of a tumble, falling from $51.70 market close last Wednesday to $49.22 close on Monday, a 4.2% drop.

Four.point.two.percent. That’s a lot more that 3-cents a pizza, no?

John Schnatter, the 1%, working hard to keep his employees unhealthy because, well, moats cost money and it’s hard to heat a castle.

Disclaimer: Before anyone thinks that i begrudge Schnatter for his millions, and his castle, his moat, his private gold course, and his underground, 22-car parking garage with its own valet and car wash, let me say that he is an American success story. But he's a bit out of touch if he thinks the public won't buy a pizza because it costs 3-cents, 4-cents, 10, cents, 14,m cents more, if that money spent allowed his employees access to health care which might actually save the rest of us money since we won't be burdened with paying the bill for those uninsured employees.

Just sayin'.

special thanks to the good people at Forbes for all that math stuff