Pizza Hut announced that iPhone and iPod Touch users can order Pizza Hut menu items directly from their devices via a free application.
“As more of our customers are integrating the iPhone and iPod touch into their everyday lives, Pizza Hut wants to be right there with them,” says Brian Niccol, chief marketing officer for Pizza Hut. “As a longtime category leader in innovation, creating an App Store application is just one more way we are helping customers place orders in a way that best fits their mobile lifestyle.”
The pizza ordering section allows consumers to build their own pizza by choosing a type of crust in the scroll wheel, “pinching” to select size, and dragging-and-dropping toppings onto the pizza, all with visual confirmation. If a customer adds too many toppings, the pizza explodes and toppings fly across the screen with an alert to make the pizza with fewer toppings. To customize for half-and-half toppings, users tilt the phone left or right and the toppings move to one side or the other. When finished, the user sees a visual representation of what their pizza will look like.
The section used to order WingStreet wings starts with a bowl of wings that changes as users choose the type of wings they want. They next select a sauce and are prompted to “cook their wings” by shaking their iPhone or iPod Touch until the wings are covered. If shaken too long the sauce flies across the screen. As with the pizza ordering, customers finish with a representation of the wings order.
The App has a virtual waiter on call to take customers’ Tuscani Pastas order.
Pizza Hut also gives consumers a way to pass the time as they wait for their pizza with a game called Pizza Hut Racer. Pizza Hut Racer challenges users to deliver a pizza quickly while avoiding obstacles in the road. The pizza delivery car speeds up or slows down depending upon the angle of the device, and vibrations and beeps alert users when the driver hits the curb or runs into obstacles.