Papa John’s International Inc. is spending $100 million a year to eliminate artificial ingredients and other additives from its menu, underscoring the cost of the restaurant industry’s shift to more natural foods.

The company removed monosodium glutamate, or MSG, from its ranch dressing last year and pulled trans fats from its garlic sauce. Now Papa John’s has homed in on a list of 14 ingredients, including corn syrup, artificial colors and various preservatives, that will be banished by the end of 2016. The ingredients are mostly in the chain’s dipping sauces, which some customers use for pizza, and other items like chicken poppers.

After high-profile moves by Chipotle Mexican Grill Inc. and Panera Bread Co. to purify their menus, restaurant chains are under pressure to go all-natural — and make sure consumers notice. Papa John’s started posting its ingredients online this year, shining a spotlight on its food.

But the push to remove artificial ingredients comes at a cost. In addition to the $100 million in added expenses each year — the result of using higher-priced natural ingredients — the shift has affected the taste of some items, said John Schnatter, the company’s founder and chief executive officer.

“It’s hard to remove some of these things and still get the flavor and functionality you want,” said Schnatter, the “Papa” in the company’s name. “We gave up flavor on the ranch dressing because I wanted to get the chemical out.”
 

Blogger Criticism

Papa John’s latest push on menu transparency started after a food blogger criticized the chain’s ingredients in 2013. To track its progress, the company created an internal color-coded “Clean Label Scorecard” that compares it to Chipotle and Panera, two chains seen as standard-bearers for the natural-food push.

Panera has spent the last year removing artificial additives from its food and reformulating its salad dressings. Chipotle, meanwhile, has eliminated genetically modified organisms from its ingredients. It also debuted a marketing campaign that touts its use of simple, unprocessed ingredients.

Larger fast-food chains are getting into the act as well. Taco Bell said last month it would eliminate unnatural ingredients, and McDonald’s has pledged to stop serving chicken raised with some antibiotics.

Papa John’s is the third-largest pizza chain in the U.S. by sales, trailing Pizza Hut and Domino’s Pizza Inc. Pizza Hut, owned by Yum! Brands Inc., said last month it would remove artificial colors and flavors from its “nationally available” pizzas by the end of July. The chain previously eliminated trans fats and MSG.