http://newatlas.com/zume-pizza-future-pizza-delivery-robots/45698/
At first glance, it looks like a solution to a particularly first-world problem: To eliminate the sogginess in pizzas caused by dwell time (i.e. the interim period it spends waiting to be delivered), startup Zume Pizza has launched a delivery truck equipped with 56 specially designed ovens to guarantee that their pies arrive at customers' doorsteps fresh out of the oven, literally.
Only in Silicon Valley, right?
But hang on. This isn't really about lukewarm pies. It's about disrupting a US$38 billion market that is currently dominated by big-box chains. In fact, the Big Four in the US – Domino's, Little Caesars, Papa John's and Pizza Hut – currently control around 40 percent of the market. And while there are many ways to go about doing this, founders Julia Collins and Alex Garden have chosen to focus on the food-delivery experience, and for good reason: the surge in mobile ordering and demand for food delivery. In fact, digital ordering is growing 300 percent faster than dine-in traffic. At Domino's alone, more than 50 percent of its US customers order via digital platforms. Collins, who has a restaurant background, believes that Zume's advantage lies in its ability to deliver on price, quality and speed.
Customer: Why are all the toppings piled on one side? Driver: Got cut off in traffic...
(Score: 3, Informative) by Snotnose on Thursday October 06 2016, @02:08AM
Why? Because I do my groceries/library run on fridays and Little Caesars is on the way home. Why once a month? Because I'm typically done by 9:45 or so (library opens at 9:30), LC opens at 10, and I don't want to wait 15 minutes with groceries in the car (and if you get there at opening you have a 10 minute wait time for the first pizza to be ready). About once a month something happens such that I'm late and LC is open when I drive by it.
Not the best pizza in the world, but $5 for 3 tasty enough meals works for me. Plus, once a month means my waistline stays about where it is.
The point to my post? It hit rum O'clock early today and I'm feeling garrulous.
Relationship status: Available for curbside pickup.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday October 06 2016, @02:15AM
There is a Pizza Hut about a half mile away, we order online (usually there are special deals) every few months when we are too tired to shop & cook. Pick up ourselves (even tired out, we aren't that lazy), so it's not soggy after sitting in some delivery oven.
Can't imagine that Zume pizza oven truck is going to be cheaper, or better, than what comes out of a normal pizza oven--but if the franchise comes here I'm sure we'll try it once.
(Score: 2) by richtopia on Thursday October 06 2016, @04:47AM
I do enjoy Detroit style deep dish, and Little Caesar's is the only option outside of Michigan. It isn't Buddy's, but I will take it.
(Score: 2) by art guerrilla on Thursday October 06 2016, @10:22AM
detroit-style deep dish ? ? ?
i think some chicagoans in the studio audience may have a bone to pick with you...
(Score: 3, Informative) by richtopia on Thursday October 06 2016, @04:06PM
Detroit style deep dish is distinctly unique from Chicago style deep dish. Detroit style is about an inch deep with a thick crust but toppings in thickness comparable to New York style. The key is that the pan is oiled and the pizza should be twice baked. The crust's texture after that is unique from both styles.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Detroit-style_pizza [wikipedia.org]
(Score: 2) by art guerrilla on Friday October 07 2016, @12:06AM
i guess i stand corrected, heard of -and ate- plenty of 'chicago style' deep dish, but never heard of 'detroit style'...
your description, though, sounds pretty much like the local (florida) 'chicago style' deep dish we get here...
have i been eating detroit-style all these years and not known it ? ? ?
(asked SWMBO, she is originally from toledo, and says she never heard of it; she googled it, and there it is, and excepting the (stupid) idea of putting the pizza sauce on top, and being rectangular, seems like a chicago style... i guess she says google says chicago is a thick pie, while detroit is more flatbread... chicago style for me, thank you...)
(Score: 2) by PartTimeZombie on Thursday October 06 2016, @11:51PM
Now listen here snotnose.
Make your mind up, either be Informative, Interesting or Funny, but not in the same post. It makes modding too hard.
(Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday October 06 2016, @02:32AM
I had read about them previously, and the most important takeaways were automation and the fact no one has quit working for them.
The automation was cheap enough to have a savings in under a year, and compensate their other employees well. This also gives them the flexibility to do new things like bake the pizza en route.
For the people who go on about a living wage, this is your future. The living wage will be met, but at the cost of rising unemployment.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday October 06 2016, @02:56AM
The problem is when the automobiles came many of the horses didn't find new jobs. I suspect a large percentage of people in the world are "horses" and not "buggy whip makers" especially those who don't get this reference ;).
That's why some people are talking about Basic Income. However, if your country is not rich enough the basic income might not be enough to meet many people's needs. Until at least the robots can create enough wealth from our planet's resources to meet everyone's needs. But even if the robots serve the people the fact is this planet is finite and not all resources are renewable and there are limits on how fast you can renew many resources.
If we can't spread beyond this planet then one option is for the bread to be real but more and more of the circuses being virtual. Only the rich would be able to afford real circuses and more expensive bread :).
(Score: 2, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday October 06 2016, @03:25AM
Not at all.
One of the problems with the living wage is that it is antithetical to basic income without economic collapse. In theory, automation reduces costs to such a degree that the necessities of life are dirt cheap (except for possibly rent, but that is another discussion), but you still need employment opportunities for other things, which a living wage cuts off at the knees.
With advanced automation, trash dumps become cornucopias of resources, but you need to bridge the gap between that level of technology and what we have now, and in many respects those clamoring for increasing the minimum wage and the like are slitting their own throats as it just means more automation and less people working.
And more importantly is that most of the jobs at Zume are fairly high level. With automated delivery, there are no low level jobs for people with minimal skills to get a foothold, which further compounds the problems with a living wage.
(Score: 2) by Scruffy Beard 2 on Thursday October 06 2016, @03:30PM
It is happening anyway.
Automation benefits those that own the means of production, not the workers.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday October 06 2016, @06:45PM
If the communist revolution had followed the marxist model, wherein the laborers ended up owning their means of production, the modern system would work out perfectly.
Sadly they ended up the same as the Capitalists and Fascists: oligarchs at the top, and the masses in pretty much the same place they were before the revolution.
(Score: 4, Insightful) by Nerdfest on Thursday October 06 2016, @02:51AM
"Movies, microcode, and pizza delivery". I'm still convinced that the man is prescient.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday October 06 2016, @05:55AM
I clicked on this story because I just re-read Snow Crash! I can't understand why this hasn't been adapted to film yet. Maybe next year!
(Score: 2) by jelizondo on Thursday October 06 2016, @06:42AM
Don't forget nanotech which could really disrupt everything dear to our industrialized societies.
Industry, as Stephenson writes in Diamond Age, would be restricted to making things and entertainment.
Even when in this particular book many people are employed as porters, maids, etc. and many others are beggars, the gist is that being able to "print" everything from food to furniture would devastate society as we know it.
(Score: 1, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday October 06 2016, @08:02AM
Did you hear what this year's chemistry Nobel prize is about?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday October 06 2016, @07:04PM
I had to hear about it because I couldn't see it!
(Score: 2) by opinionated_science on Thursday October 06 2016, @03:02AM
I like a take-out pizza as much as the next Y-chromosome holder.
But in the restaurant, where it's straight from the oven. Or even *at* home, when I make my nonna's recipe....Can't be beat.
Still, I approve of our robot-pizza-oven-overlords, at least they bring tasty treats.....
(Score: 1) by redneckmother on Thursday October 06 2016, @05:16PM
Care to share? :)
Mas cerveza por favor.
(Score: 2) by MostCynical on Thursday October 06 2016, @03:13AM
why does the truck need 56 ovens?
The little pizza stall at a festival was doing brisk trade recently with just one.
"I guess once you start doubting, there's no end to it." -Batou, Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday October 06 2016, @03:32AM
Each one turns on individually so that the pizza is ready at arrival. Probably linked to GPS. A cool idea, but not something I want to pay for.
(Score: 2) by richtopia on Thursday October 06 2016, @04:50AM
You only buy one slice at a time with a festival. Delivery is one or two pies at a time. My first reaction is 56 that is overkill, but these guys are more experienced with in-transit pizza preparation than I am.
(Score: 2) by MostCynical on Thursday October 06 2016, @06:15AM
the thing they had was cooking whole (small) pizzas, on a powered, rolling, lpg-heated tray oven (like a giant hotel toaster)
took about 8 minutes (ingredients added to prepared bases, cooked, boxed and handed to you, all done by one guy in a small tent)
http://www.pizzaevent.com.au [pizzaevent.com.au]
"I guess once you start doubting, there's no end to it." -Batou, Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex
(Score: 1) by Guppy on Friday October 07 2016, @01:55AM
why does the truck need 56 ovens?
The little pizza stall at a festival was doing brisk trade recently with just one.
Probably each individual unit also serves as a keep-warm oven after the pizza is done. Otherwise, you'd have to have the robot remove each finished pizza from the oven to a holding area, to prevent over-baking.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday October 06 2016, @03:20AM
Why does every "disruptive" "founder" "startup" involve vehicles in some way? Wanna-be Uber, much? Be unique, just like Uber! Follow your leader, millennial idiots!
(Score: 3, Insightful) by takyon on Thursday October 06 2016, @03:35AM
Because drivers are about to be thrown into the gutter to die once self-driving vehicles hit the roads. It's one more job to eliminate.
[SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday October 06 2016, @04:23AM
I'm still mourning the loss of my local pizza joint this past week. 40 years, a local tradition, a place I would make pilgrimages to, finally closed its doors. Soon we'll be fed mediocre pie by plastic passers-by while we're playing Pokemon Go on cheap Chinese cellphones and screaming to each other on Facebook about President Trump's daily outrageous utterance, while our C++ projects still compile at the speed of molasses.
At least we'll still have something called "pizza," I guess.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday October 06 2016, @04:46AM
I'm still mourning the loss of my local pizza joint this past week. 40 years, a local tradition, a place I would make pilgrimages to, finally closed its doors.
And nothing of value was lost, because let me tell you I'm so fucking tired of that motherfucking asshole pizzeria proprietor who banned neighborhood kids from his pizza joint on a goddamn whim, always wanted tips instead of raising his fucking prices like a real business, and was generally a grumpy sack of shit to his customers all the fucking time. Fuck that local pizza joint.
(Score: 1, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday October 06 2016, @05:05AM
Remember that one time he destroyed some kid's boombox with a baseball bat?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday October 06 2016, @04:47AM
http://www.tomatoboots.co/simple-rosemary-pizza-dough/ [tomatoboots.co]
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday October 06 2016, @02:16PM
I know a place that fits that description. Myles?
(Score: 1, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday October 06 2016, @05:18AM
Just put it on top of a Galaxy Note 7.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday October 06 2016, @05:46AM
"At first glance, it looks like a solution to a particularly first-world problem"
You know this statement is kinda condescending.
First world problems are also 'third world problems'. Those annoyances we have they have too. Does a lack of money and opportunity make problems less annoying?
Also anything a small company can do a big one can too usually. They will then beat you on margin. The only thing drone delivery really does is eliminate most of the cost of the devilry driver. You might be faster on delivery, maybe, if you have enough slack and/or ability to carry more than 1 pizza.
(Score: 3, Touché) by tfried on Thursday October 06 2016, @08:03AM
Latest market analysis shows: Rural Uganda residents value pizza crispiness so much, they reject existing pizza delivery options, in favor of home baked pizza, or in fact home cooked anything, or even no food at all! Huge untapped market potential! Unique opportunity! Invest in market disrupting mobile pizza ovens in Uganda, now!
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday October 06 2016, @08:12AM
For a minority of those in the third world, sure. For the majority, not.
Those annoyances they also have are not the "first world problems".
Yes. If you don't have the money or opportunity to get a delivery pizza, you're not annoyed about the quality of that delivery pizza you're not eating.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday October 06 2016, @12:34PM
Ah, I see. Ignorance is bliss. Those poor slobs are not annoyed because they don't know any better. Then I would posit that this makes this a much more important problem to solve and it shouldn't be relegated to a condescending remark.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday October 06 2016, @02:48PM
Reading comprehension: Failed.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday October 06 2016, @06:12PM
You missed the point. They have 'first world problems' too, which usually are little more than annoyances. However, they *ALSO* have 3rd world problems like lack of a good water source. It does not mean the sets are mutually exclusive.
you're not annoyed about the quality of that delivery pizza you're not eating.
Why wouldnt they be annoyed? Is pizza nonexistant in their world? "First world problems" is merely a way to set yourself above others and brush off issues as trivial. When a drone delivery system could in fact help 3rd world countries too with poor or nonexistant roads and people who will mug you for a couple of bucks.
But crispy pizza is only something a first world person should enjoy? Am I right? /sarc
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday October 08 2016, @02:59PM
If you're poor, you don't waste money on take-out pizza (unless you are also stupid). Not to say 3rd worlders shouldn't be able to enjoy it, but due to circumstances, it isn't an option for them.
(Score: 3, Funny) by choose another one on Thursday October 06 2016, @10:33AM
Because they are _top_pings, they go on the _top_ side by definition, and if they went on the underside they'd fall off and/or get stuck on the oven shelf.
Clearly applies to all pizzas, not just trafficed ones.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday October 06 2016, @12:38PM
There is a food truck [tuscanwoodfiredpizzacatering.com] that has a wood-fired oven in it.
(Score: 2) by dyingtolive on Thursday October 06 2016, @01:14PM
We have these guys: http://www.bluesfiredpizza.com/ [bluesfiredpizza.com] They make a good pizza. It's only a 8" at $10 though, so it's a little expensive for what you get.
Don't blame me, I voted for moose wang!