UPDATED: Papa John’s runs low on dough

Keep the two pennies.

That became a oft-repeated expression Thursday among Boardman/Poland Papa John’s customers who stood in long lines for 23-cent pizzas.

Those who didn’t make it to a Papa John’s before 4 p.m. were told to keep their quarter and left empty handed.

Lines outside Papa John's

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Many Papa John’s locations in the Valley were cleaned out of dough by the masses of hungry customers who were hoping to save a little dough themselves. Lines spilled out of the Papa John’s entrances as hungry hoards tried to take advantage of the deal announced by the chain’s Louisville, Ky. corporate headquarters.

The company was seeking customer forgiveness for a Washington, D.C., store’s decision to distribute shirts printed with James’ No. 23 and the word “crybaby” before Game 6 of the Cavaliers’ first-round playoff game against the Washington Wizards.

The day started out with a bang with many locations seeing happy customers lining up as early as 9 a.m.

“They are taking ownership and responsibility for their actions and it’s going to a good cause,” said Mia Knight, 27, of Youngstown.

New Middletown resident Doug Chandler started out at the extreme end of the line at the store at 1307 Boardman Poland Road at about noon. Within less than an hour, he was bringing back one cheap lunch to his office.

“It’s all worth it if the Cavs can win tonight,” Chandler said of his wait in line.

As the day progressed, lines continued to grow and some customers became agitated by the wait. Other agitations were to follow.

Late Thursday afternoon, Tim Michalegko, regional supervisor who was at the Boardman/Canfield store, started work at 5 a.m. and by 4 p.m. he had served 700 to 800 customers and was out of dough.

“Hot and ready worked for the first hour, but it got to the point where it was a larger turnout than any of us expected,” Michalegko said.

Other locations ran out of products, too, yet still worked to keep customers satisfied.

When the store at 1307 Boardman Poland Road sold in excess of 600 pies, they were “overwhelmed and out of dough,” said manger Dave Beck, who has been with Papa John’s for five years.

Beck, along with general manager Mark Barkley, decided to give their customers a raincheck so that the hour wait outside wasn’t a complete waste of time.

Customers were asked to leave their name, number, and address so they could receive a free coupon for a large one-topping pizza, a value of $12.58.

Other local pizza joints such as Inner Circle Pizza and Pizza Joe’s had mixed reactions to their competition’s low-priced large pie.

“I didn’t notice a great fluctuation in our lunch business,” said Inner Circle manager Kelly Wolford. “I was just frustrated that our business may have suffered from their mistake,” she said.

Boardman Pizza Joe’s shift manager Lindsey Paulan, said their business was steady with their regular Thursday customers.

“We didn’t see much extra business,” she said.