An impressive milestone for Papa John's, and a mouth-watering dream for most Web companies: The pizza chain has hit $1 billion in online sales after seven years of Web-based ordering, the AP reports.

The nation's third-largest pizza delivery chain trumpeted the $1 billion milestone Wednesday, noting that its U.S. online sales have been growing at an average clip of more than 50 percent per year. In 2001, the chain's online sales totaled $20.4 million. Last year, its online sales approached $400 million.

"It took us seven years to reach our first billion in online sales, and at our current pace and growth rate it will take us less than three years to hit our next billion," said Jim Ensign, vice president of marketing communications at Papa John's (PZZA).

More than 20% of the chain's sales come via its Web site or through text messaging.

Not to get too parochial, but we don't have any shortage of stellar pizza options in NYC. So we're not big Papa John's customers. But the few times we've ordered from their Web site, we've found it a lot more pleasant than ordering over the phone.

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