Don't All Leap Up at Once - These Feb 29th Leap Year Pizza Deals Are Only for the Chosen Few

We saw this article over at Pizza Marketplace and feel it is our duty to make you aware of it.

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Papa John's Tracks It's Pizza Drivers by GPS using "Enhanced Customer Service" as its cover

If you think Domino's new online pizza-tracking service is cool, check out what some Papa John's pizza shops are doing - in the name of customer service!

An 11-store group around Huntsville, Ala., late last year forged a relationship with TrackMyPizza a startup company that lets customers track on an online map exactly where their pizzas are, with updates every 15 seconds as they're being delivered to customers.

And they are allegedly doing this to enhance the customer ordering experience. Rememember the old pizza adage - After 30 minutes of waiting hunger turns to anger

But are they really just doing it to improve employee productivity and to keep tabs on its notoriously difficult-to -locate delivery drivers?

Customers call their orders in or place them online. They then enter their phone number on TrackMyPizza to track their delivery. The drivers are equipped with GPS-enabled handsets that feed location data to TrackMyPizza's server. There, the data is coupled with the customer's phone number, allowing tracking data to be "pushed" out to the customer via the TrackMyPizza Web site.

All sounds harmless enough - but what about the driver who takes a slight detour on the way back to his shop to buy cigarettes or other supplies. Previously, it was easy for a delivery driver to slip away unnoticed for 10 minuuted to allow him to catch up on a few errands- but now all that will have to stop.

Pizza delivery drivers are often the eyes and ears of a local community. Thinking of moving house? Ask your Domino's driver for a list of undesireable neighbourhoods or noisy appartment blocks.

Who is going to serve as soft-drug couriers for the local community if you know your boss can track not just your current position but also retrospectively check all your movements for the previous week?

The Papa John's TrackMyPizza feature, for customers in that region, takes the arms race for pizza-tracking technology to another level, removing even that much uncertainty from a pizza buyer's life. Tracking the delivery street by street, Super Bowl viewers could know exactly when to leave their TVs to meet the pizza guy at the door.

The Alabama Papa John's group started working late last year with TrackMyPizza, a privately held startup founded by two telemetry scientists who spent 10 years tracking defense missiles for the U.S. government.

For the stores where TrackMyPizza is available, about 18% of all delivery customers in the last 60 days have gone online to track their pizzas, even if they ordered by phone, said Tom VanLandingham, operating partner for the regional Papa John's group. Online orders are up 100% since the service started, and that's a big advantage to a pizza shop. Not only does it save employees time answering the phone, online customers spend on average about $2 more with each order, since they can see the full menu,

VanLandingham said. Papa John's also will soon begin using the tracking system for behind-the-scenes productivity gains, such as better plotting of deliveries based on location data.

TrackMyPizza itself relies on a mapping engine built by Randy Younger, the company's chief operating officer, and Ken Blankshain, its CTO, using geo data available from the U.S. government.

"Whoever said pizzas aren't rocket science?" said TrackMyPizza CEO David Neel. Domino's ambitious plans for its system suggest there could be a broad market for such consumer-facing tracking tools. Said Neel, "It's another example of how to empower the customer and improve the customer experience."

Garbage. We all know it is so the store owner can keep a track of his employees' whereabouts

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5 Reasons To Choose a No Cheese Pizza

Europeans have long known the wonders of cheese-free pizza made with fresh and flavorful ingredients. Yet, in the United States, deep dish pizzas loaded with piles of stringy cheese are more than the norm, they are practically the rule in many pizza parlors

......(continue reading this article) from the GoDairyFree website


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The Bull Market That's Killing Domino's Pizza in the US

"We have no choice but to raise prices substantially," said Dick Bond last week...

Dick Bond is CEO of Tyson Foods. Tyson is the world's largest processor of chicken, beef, and pork. Corn is Tyson's largest expense. That's because chicken, beef, and pork are ultimately just different forms of processed corn with higher profit margins.

Right now, corn prices are at 12-year highs because of the U.S. government's drive to produce ethanol. And higher corn prices have led to higher wheat and soybean prices. Wheat is at an all-time high. Soybeans are at an all-time high. The most recent quarterly earnings at Tyson Foods declined 40% because of these high grain prices.

According to Bond, government mandates for corn-based ethanol drove up grain prices, which have cascaded through other agricultural markets. "Cooking oil, flour, and other feed ingredients are all on the rise," said Bond. "For the foreseeable future, consumers will pay more and more for food, especially protein."

Domino's Pizza is another company feeling cost pressure. Cheese makes up 50% of the cost of a pizza. Cheese prices jumped 15% in 2007. Flour prices are also rising strongly. Bread prices rose 7.5% last year. And according to Goldman Sachs, wheat stocks in the United States are the lowest they've been since 1948.

So far, Domino's has resisted raising the price of its pizza in the United States – it will raise prices in the United Kingdom – and is paying for it. In its most recent profit report, Domino's reported a 55% decline in earnings. By the end of 2007, Domino's share price had fallen 70% from its 52-week high.

Kraft owns brands like DiGiorno Pizza, Maxwell House, Oreo, Oscar Mayer, and Philadelphia Cream Cheese. Kellogg is America's largest cereal maker. Both companies reported fourth-quarter results two weeks ago. Kraft's earnings fell 6.3% compared to the same period last year. Kellogg's earnings declined 3% over the same period.

"The fourth quarter was one of the worst ever for food companies in terms of commodity costs," said Reuters, commenting on the announcements by Kellogg and Kraft.

I wrote to my farmland contact – a hog farmer in Sioux County, Iowa – to find out how higher prices had affected life in the Midwest.

"I don't think locals are manic about Ag yet," says Roger, "though land prices have tripled in the past five years."

Roger says many of the grain elevators near him are close to insolvency. Grain elevators buy grain from farmers and then hold it in storage until the customers show up.

To protect themselves from falling prices – while the grain is held in storage – they take short positions in the futures markets. Roger says these short positions can generate huge margin calls when crop prices rise... and destroy the profits at grain elevators. The average grain elevator in Iowa, he says, pays an extra $2 million per day when prices move up just half the daily limit allowed on the exchange.

I think this boom still has decades to run, even though the easy money is probably gone. The easiest way to play it is through the PowerShares DB Agriculture Fund. The symbol is DBA. This fund moves in line with corn, wheat, soybean, and sugar futures.

You should also expect higher bills at the checkout counter and in restaurants for many years to come...


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Gadget of the Month: Left-handed Pizza Scissors?

There is very little to say about this month's gadget except that they are not just designed to cut your pizza, but they also double up as a pizza slice in case the one you stole from Pizza Hut when you were a student has gone missing!

Something similar if not the same is available from Amazon at just $9.95

Technical Point: The eagle-eyed among you will notice these scissors are being used left-handed. I do not know if they are designed for lefties to use or if the person was just holding them that way for artistic effect.

If you are left-handed and are looking for specialist tools visit AnythingLeftHanded. They have a great selection for those of you with sinister tendencies!

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Pizza Hut Reveals New Thai Delivery Logo

Yum Restaurants International (Thailand) yesterday introduced a new logo for its Pizza Hut home delivery service as part of its marketing plan to lift sales this year.

The redesigned logo was created in hopes of strengthening the brand awareness of Pizza Hut in the delivery segment, said Nongnuch Buranasetkul, the company's marketing director.

The concept represents not only the ''hot'' delivery service but also its good quality and continual promotion and innovation.

''In other words, it aims to show that Pizza Hut is now offering its customers more than just a quick service,'' she said.

Ms Nongnuch said the new logo would help to remind existing customers and also convince new customers that Pizza Hut is always improving its products and also provides a variety of choices apart from pizza.

This year, Yum expects to see its sales increase by 20%. It would focus more on its delivery services because the delivery market is expected to grow by 5-10% this year.

''According to our research, pizza is suitable for the home delivery service because it's ready to eat. Customers do not need to bother themselves preparing ingredients or washing dishes,'' said Ms Nongnuch.

Amid the gloomy economy, the company is considering raising the prices of some products due mainly to higher ingredient costs, said Ms Nongnuch.

Last year, Yum raised the price of its Hawaiian pizza by 10 baht to 260 baht on the back of a 30% rise in the price of cheese, its first price increase since 2005.
She added that the company expected to increase the number of Pizza Hut outlets to 91 from 76 by year end.

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Widnes Vikings Agree 2 Year Domino's Pizza Sponsorship Deal

Widnes Vikings have agreed a two-year deal with Domino's Pizza sponsor the family enclosure at Stobart Stadium Halton.

The pizza chain also has an option for a further three years.

Vikings' commercial manager Mike Banks said: "I'm delighted that Domino's Pizza has signed a new sponsorship deal with us and we hope to make further announcements regarding additional sponsors signing up with Vikings in the near future."

Domino's Pizza franchisee Peter Thompson said "I am looking forward to this partnership and would particularly like to thank St Helens Franchisee Simon Pickles for his invaluable behind-the-scenes work on concluding this deal :-)"

Vikings are kicking off the new relationship with a special family ticket offer for the next two home Northern Rail Cup fixtures against Barrow on Sunday and Blackpool on March 2.

Family tickets, pre-booked before 5pm on Friday, will cost £20, which gives supporters one adult ticket and one junior ticket in the Domino's Family Enclosure.

A further junior ticket can be purchased for just £2 (maximum of two juniors accompanying an adult).

The club have also introduced a second offer for adult fans where they can purchase a ticket valid for both games for £20 - provided they are pre-booked before 5pm on Friday.

The Pizzas and Stuff blog is raising money for Special Olympics GB by bringing you the best pizza related stories from around the Web.

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