So, we were in that deadzone – round three o’clock – where nobody delivers. Except for the pizza joints – Pizza Hut, Domino’s and our local competitor Harpo’s. Harpo’s is a usual favorite so we decided to try Pizza Hut. Why? Because they have an app.
The team at MicroImage has developed an Android smartphone app that lets you order pizza from your, as mentioned, smartphone. So how does it work? Well enough, but not so awesome that you wouldn’t just pick up and call.
1. First step, hence the 1. First step is to download the app from the Google Play Store. Of course, you need an Android phone to do this. It’s free and only a few MB, took only a minute to download. Boom. Then you can open the Pizza Hut app through your phone’s applications.
2. Step two, decide what to order. Here we struggled a bit. The app has to download the images on the fly, and in our case it didn’t download at all. We were looking at the website anyways so we knew what to order from there. The app interface is still not ideal for browsing a photo menu.
3. Then we clicked on what we wanted (Tandoori Chicken Pizza) and added it to our cart. That was pretty easy.
4. Finally, and that step isn’t really shown here, you enter your name, address, phone number, etc. The one confusing thing was that it asked what time you want the pizza. For me the time is always now, so I entered that, but the time has to be thirty minutes in advance. That makes sense, after the fact, but I wish they just had a button for As Soon As Possible.
5. Then, once you submit the order, you get a PIN sent to your mobile phone which you have to enter, to confirm who you are I guess.
6. Then, en fin, someone from Pizza Hut calls you to confirm.
And that’s about it. From there it’s a normal order. Pizza Hut is insanely professional, their call center knows more about me than the government (every place I’ve worked or lived) and their staff is unfailingly polite and rarely gets lost. So the pizza arrived in 30 minutes, paid with credit card, so an almost completely digital transaction.
Pizza Hut Pizza, as it arrivedBut therein lies the rub. As efficient and professional as Pizza Hut service is, their pizza isn’t very good. Pizza Hut pizza is kinda meh ingredients, meh cheese and you feel kinda greasy afterwards. Harpo’s beats them any day, and the pizza gets there just as fast.
So is the addition of Android ordering a killer app? Not really, but it is pretty cool. The Pizza Hut call center (011 2 729 729) is pretty efficient on its own and their website lets you order online, albeit through some pretty hideous design.
Would we recommend the app? Sure. We just wouldn’t necessarily recommend the pizza.
