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For the time-poor, the super organized and the simply shy, Pizza Hut is introducing a way for you to get your favorite pizza without having to wait in line or even interact with humans. According to Insider, the company once famous for their suspiciously identical buildings and irresistible buffet are trialing a technology that will take them into the future at their restaurant at 6660 Sunset Blvd in Hollywood, CA.
Customers can order their pizza however they want it online, on the phone, or even at the restaurant itself, and then rock up to a wall of cubbies. Each is lined with special insulation to make sure your food stays hot and your drinks stay cool. When your meal is ready, including drinks and sides, your name will appear on the front of the appropriate cubby. All you have to do is tap on it twice, the door will open, and you just grab your food and go.
How close I am to ordering pizza instead of eating the groceries I just bought yesterday: pic.twitter.com/RCytUSd1aU
— Pizza Hut (@pizzahut) July 7, 2019
And in case you were worried about potential pizza thievery, Pizza Hut understands your concerns:
a week ago, someone in Durango, CO used my phone number @pizzahut and used my rewards points to pay for their order. i saw the email confirmation and called the store. they canceled the order before the thief could get the food. then @pizzahut locked my account.
— michael eric woodward (@photo_obscura) March 17, 2019
The company has said that they’re specifically targeting introverts — and it’s not the first time.
I just found out @pizzahut will start delivering pizzas via a @FedEx robot this summer, and finally my pipe dream of ordering food with zero human interaction will be possible. #introvert #finally #pizzaforone #introvertlife #singlelife
— Rachel Barry (@rbperry6337) March 1, 2019
Hey @fedex @dominos @pizzahut I know you guys are super psyched to test out these new delivery robots... but how about just hire more people. People need jobs. Walking outside promotes exercise & human-to-human interaction, releasing endorphins, resulting in happy people. pic.twitter.com/DvH8cDVK2G
— ✨🌙MoonChild🌈👽🛸✨ (@ladyprime143) February 28, 2019
Although others were alarmed for a different reason.
Meet the @pizzahut #robot #pizza truck 🚛 🍕 #robotics #automation #food #foodtruck @avrohomg @JonathanAufray @dez_blanchfield @sallyeaves @evankirstel @digitalcloudgal @psb_dc @ipfconline1 @StartGrowthHack
— Dr Martin Hiesboeck (@MHiesboeck) May 8, 2019
pic.twitter.com/TEgMrCcfIR
What a sad reflection that Pizza Hut US has launched cubby holes to collect your pizza because “let’s face it, many of us welcome any opportunity to skip the small talk”. May not always be welcome but dangerously close to losing any human contact at all (from #propel)
— Kate Hempsall (@katehempsall) July 26, 2019
Stop making this a little cute thing.
— Tank Dawg !! #CaptureTheFlagg #FireWillieGreen (@EzekielCaselton) July 26, 2019
They want to get rid of employees!
Here's your 15 a hour.
Pizza Hut testing carry-out pizza lockers for introverts https://t.co/jTrXFk92Po via @thetakeout
In case you’re someone who tends to be suspicious of new technology, this idea is actually based on an old one. From the early 1910s to the 1970s, one of the most popular places for people of all incomes to eat was the automat. Picture a wall of small cubbies, with clear fronts, which operated like vending machines. You’d put your coin in, the door opened, and you took your piece of pie or cup of coffee or whatever you wanted.
Fast forward to today, and Pizza Hut isn’t the first chain to revamp this technology for the 21st century. In 2017, Chinese-American cuisine chain Wow Bao opened a robot-run store in Chicago, IL, using technology designed by a company called Eatsa at the time, and now called Brightloom — the company hired by Pizza Hut.
WOW BAO is in 3018. You can only order through a kiosk and your food is place in little compartments. Robots gonna replace all of us. pic.twitter.com/cwT3hiuZ9b
— Aggressively Tired (@TheGtweets) October 6, 2018
The Amazon locker is already becoming a part of our everyday lives. In theory, at least:
Just like a pizza that hasn’t been cut properly, we’re torn. On the one hand, having pizza appear behind a door with our name on it sounds like an actual dream we’ve had (especially on days when we have already human-ed more than feels necessary.) On the other hand, this is wading into dystopian levels of avoiding human interaction, not to mention the potential risk to jobs. If you’ve read the end of this robot-based sci-fi novel we’re apparently living in, let us know how it turns out.
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