Coming soon: E-bike pizza deliveries

Domino’s move towards electric bike pizza deliveries will create jobs for school children, its New Zealand general manager Scott Bush says.

Bush said Domino’s will use electric bikes for all pizza deliveries from Auckland stores in Ponsonby and Kingsland later this year, before rolling the bikes out through the rest of the country.

The pizza franchise, which made a record profit of A$92 million (NZ$98m) for the year to June 30, already has e-bikes in more than 600 Australian stores.

Domino’s is expanding rapidly, having recently opened its 102nd New Zealand store.

Bush said it was aiming to open another 100 stores in New Zealand over in the next five years which would will create hundreds of jobs.

The e-bikes, which cost about $3000 each, would deliver pizzas up to 2 kilometres away, he said.

E-bikes opened up employment opportunities for delivery drivers who did not have a car licence, such as school kids, he said.

Each bike could carry about three pizzas, two bottles of soft drink and a garlic bread, he said.

Some bikes would tow a trailer allowing for larger deliveries, he said. Domino’s is also on an autonomous pizza delivery vehicle designed to keep pizzas hot and drinks cold.

Bush said he hoped this would be rolled out within 12 to 18 months.