Little Caesars unveils The Pizza Portal
Customers can skip human interaction in ordering and pick up with help of new app
Introverts rejoice. Thanks to Little Caesars, pizza, like cash and gasoline, is now on the list of things people can buy and use on the spot without ever dealing with another human being.
The company on Monday is unveiling The Pizza Portal, a machine that lets customers who pick up their pies skip the line, grab their pizza and go in more than a dozen locations in the Tucson area.
Pizza lovers need only download the app to order and pay for their food. Next, they’ll receive a 3- digit or QR code. Once at the store they need to enter or scan the code to open a self- service hot box at the shop, skipping the line and finishing their transaction in a few seconds.
“It’s cool,” David Scrivano, CEO of Little Caesars told USA TODAY. “It’s all about convenience. In and out in seconds. No line. No wait.”
The Detroit- based chain, which many people will remember for its 2- for- 1 “Pizza Pizza” deal and long boxes holding two pies, is just one of many companies jumping on the automation bandwagon with the service, which it calls Reserve- N- Ready. From ATMs to self- checkouts to vending machines, consumers have options that allow them to use technology to skip the small talk ( and sometimes hassle) of dealing with people.
For companies, this kind of innovation eventually can result in cost savings in the form of layoffs or less hiring. At Little Caesers, adding the machines creates the need to require more hires to teach customers how to use the technology, Scrivano said.
The Pizza Portal still is in the testing stages. The company plans to add approximately 100 of the devices throughout the U. S. in 2018 and hopes the machines will help drive sales, which in turn, Scrivano said, would create a need for more hiring, including more in- store positions. “There will always be counter people,” he said.
Cupcake fans have been able to satisfy their late- night cravings at the Cupcake ATM, at Sprinkles Cupcakes, a nationwide bakery serving cupcakes, ice cream and cookies, since its launch in 2012.