As Posted By: Wall Street JournalPizza chains are offering even more ways to satisfy your carb cravings.
Now instead of just picking up the phone, pizza eaters can order a pie digitally -- over the Web, through cellphone applications and even via Facebook, a social-networking site. Moreover, couch potatoes can order a Dominos pizza from their TV by using the broadband TiVo service available to subscribers.
It's all a push to stay competitive with what may be the country's most popular food.
"Right now, the No. 1 food that people bring home is pizza, no doubt," says Harry Balzer, vice president of NPD Group, a consumer-marketing firm. "It's the third-most-popular food ordered in restaurants [behind burgers and fries] and the No. 1 food ordered by children under the age of 18," Mr. Balzer adds.
But the major pizza chains, such as Pizza Hut, a unit of Yum Brands Inc., Domino's Pizza Inc. and Papa John's International Inc., are fighting for their share of the pie these days. Mr. Balzer cites the growing number of restaurants offering take-out meals, as well as the growth in supermarkets that offer frozen, restaurant-quality pizzas.
To keep customers coming back, major pizza chains are adding more menu items, such as appetizers and desserts, and offering more ways to order. We tested some of these ordering methods to see if technology offers an edge when ordering slices.
In all cases, we ordered a large pie using a digital method: a cellphone text message (Papa John's); a TiVo account (Domino's); a Facebook page (Pizza Hut); and a form on the Web (Uno Chicago Grill). And in all cases, the pizzas were prepared as we ordered them. Still, some of us wondered if technology made it any easier to get a pizza than, say, calling in an order.
Our first order was placed at a Dallas-area Pizza Hut using Facebook. To find the application, type Pizza Hut in the Facebook search box. Then, fill out a one-time registration form that asks for a name, address and date of birth. (All the pizza chains we tested require users to be at least 13 years old.)
The application allowed us to choose a specialty pizza or build our favorite pie by choosing from a list of toppings. We also had the option of entering a credit-card number, minimizing the fumble for cash when the doorbell rings. The pizza arrived at our apartment complex, albeit eight minutes later than the time given in the chain's confirmation email. And to the relief of the testers, Pizza Hut's application doesn't notify all of our Facebook friends that we just ordered a stuffed-crust pizza with pepperoni and mushrooms.
For a Papa John's pie, we went to the company's Web site to enter our user information and set our four "favorites" -- the pizzas and other menu items we would like for pick-up or delivery. The next day on the train commute home, we sent a cellphone text message to Papa John's, typing FAV2 -- indicating we wanted to order the second of our four favorites for pick-up. A second text message is sent to confirm the order, and another text message is received to give the estimated delivery time. A person at the local Papa John's also called our cellphone to confirm that we wanted to pick up the pie. In the end, we spent more than $1 in carrier charges because of our pay-as-you-go cellphone plan.
Still, the set-up and pick-up went seamlessly -- our specified pie, a thin-crust white pizza, awaited us at the Papa John's near our train depot.
In our Domino's test, we placed our most-complicated order, a 14-inch pizza with three toppings: mushrooms on the whole pizza, black olives on one half and green peppers on the other half. (Oddly, customers can even specify if they want the toppings on the left half or the right half of the pie.) And we ordered the pie from in front of the TV, using TiVo.
Because of the one-time setup, ordering was a little more time-consuming than we anticipated, taking about seven minutes. After scrolling through and selecting our menu choices, we entered our personal information, character by character, using the Tivo remote. Shortly after placing the order, the Domino's driver called our house to verify directions and let us know he was leaving with the pizza soon. The pizza arrived on schedule and was made to our specifications -- an experience that was so simple, we plan to use TiVo again for pizza.
For our last test, we used the Internet to order a pizza from Uno Chicago Grill. We found the Web site useful, with pictures of pizzas and appetizers and tabs that allowed us to browse the salad and pasta sections.
Rick Hendrie, senior vice president of marketing with Uno Chicago Grill, says the pictures have another effect: People ordering online tend to buy more food. "They order with their eyes. Over the phone, you go with a default order," Mr. Hendrie says. It's a sentiment echoed by Papa John's, where online sales are about 10% higher than orders placed over the phone or by walk-ins.
Mr. Hendrie and others also note that orders placed online tend to be more accurate. As one tester noted, "It's sometimes hard for the pizza place to hear the difference between pepperoni and green pepper when you're talking on the phone."
Accuracy slipped in our order to Uno Chicago Grill's Pizzeria Due location, however. First, it wasn't immediately clear how to add other toppings beyond the nine combinations listed. Eventually we found the boxes to check for additional toppings and a way to customize our pie with sausage and, just on half, onions and mushrooms, by writing it into a box for special instructions. We also added three root beers to our order and asked the pizzeria to make sure the pizza was hot when we arrived.
The pizza was indeed hot, and the store followed our instructions about the mushrooms and onions. But it forgot to give us our root beers.
Four pizzas later, we're left to ask if digital ordering makes life simpler. Anyway you slice it, there's still work involved with the one-time setup. But it may be worth it, for the convenience, the accuracy and occasional coupons and discounts offered for online orders. Those who are comfortable with technology and multi-tasking may be going back for seconds.
