Dad John's could drop his apostrophe

Papa John's could unveil a new – but not also new – name and logo in the coming months.

The chain of pizzerias could soon get rid of his apostrophe and turn to Papa Johns, in an effort to repair his tarnished image after his founder made a racist remark at the beginning of the year during a conference call. John Schattner, founder and face of the company, resigned as president in July 2018.

Papa John's International filed new spelling and branding documents with the United States Patent and Trademark Office in late August. In theory, eliminating the possessive apostrophe at Papa John's would provide a greater distance between the company and its founder, so that it does not seem to own the company.

Schattner remains Papa John's largest shareholder.

A spokesman for Papa John said there was no imminent project to use the new logo without punctuation, Adage reported. The same article cited trademark attorney, Josh Gerben, saying that the new look could appear early in 2019, as the trademark office can take up to four months to review an application.

The revised logo has been classified in many versions, including a red and green version, a black and white version and a version with the slogan of the chain, "Better Ingredients. A better pizza.