Pizza Hut heats up contactless delivery

A leading pizza retailer is trying to meet customer demand for safe delivery and more pies.

Pizza Hut is now offering contactless delivery nationwide. At checkout on the Pizza Hut site or app, the customer clicks on delivery instructions and writes in how they'd like their food delivered, such as “contactless front door." Customers can prepay and tip using any credit or debit card, and the delivery driver will notify the customer once the food has been dropped off.

In addition, Pizza Hut offers free curbside pickup where possible. Other frictionless purchase options include contactless carryout. The retailer says once a pizza leaves the oven, it slides hands-free into the box. The company is also increasing emphasis on its longstanding sanitization and handwashing procedures.

In response to increased demand, Pizza Hut is hiring more drivers. This is in addition to more than 30,000 open, permanent positions it currently has available nationwide. Available jobs include cooks, shift leaders, restaurant managers, and virtual call center agents. 

Pizza Hut is also expediting its hiring and onboarding process to accommodate people who are looking for jobs now, and to get delivery drivers on the road more rapidly, and ultimately to get customers their pizza quicker. The new process aims to have delivery drivers trained and on the road safely in five hours, which is nearly three times quicker than the previous training procedure.

"Given the increased demand we're seeing for delivery, we're hiring new team members to help us feed America," said Kevin Hochman, president of Pizza Hut U.S. "Whether through contactless delivery, curbside pickup, or carryout, we're here to serve oven-hot pizza however customers want to get it."