Newest Pizza Hut Gimmick — Ordering Pizza With Shoes

I can’t tell you the number of times I’ve been playing a pickup basketball game and, with about 25 minutes left, felt the need to have a pizza waiting for me at the end of the game. And who wants to stop the game to take 30 seconds to order the pizza with a smartphone app? If only there was a way of ordering pizza with my shoes while I was running back on defense …

Honestly, this has never happened to me or probably to anyone else. But that doesn’t mean someone hasn’t come up with a solution to the problem that never existed, using true American ingenuity.

Pizza Hut now allows you to press a button on the tongue of its special “Pie Tops” shoes — yes, Pizza Hut is owning that horrible pun — to order a pizza. The shoes make a Bluetooth connection with your smartphone, and pressing the button triggers an app to have a pizza delivered to you. The delivery is made to the shoes’ location, as they contain a locator chip.

Yes, it’s a crazy, stupid, and wonderful idea, all at the same time. You would set up the app with your default pizza ordering criteria (toppings, crust type, et cetera) at any time, and then it’s ready to go when you want to push the button.

If you’re watching the NCAA Tournament basketball games the next few weeks, you can expect to see plenty of Pizza Hut commercials during the games featuring former Duke basketball star Grant Hill wearing the shoes.

Oh, Those Crazy Pizza Hut Marketers

If you think ordering pizza with shoes sounds like more of a marketing gimmick than a useful tool, you’re right. And the gimmicky part of the idea becomes more obvious when you learn that Pizza Hut has announced the shoes will not be for sale anywhere. Instead, the restaurant chain plans to make only 64 pairs of basketball shoes, possibly giving a few pairs away as part of a contest at some point in the future.

This isn’t Pizza Hut’s first marketing ploy around tech. You can order from Pizza Hut via smartphone app, Facebook Messenger, the Amazon Alexa personal assistant, and via Twitter. In the UK, Pizza Hut announced a pizza box with DJ controls that works over Bluetooth to send audio to a smartphone.

The Pie Tops are a fun idea, but I’ll be truly impressed when the company figures out how to send me a pizza via a Star Trek-like transporter. Beam me up a pizza, Scotty. Extra cheese, please.

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3 Comments

1. 

   Matt

   March 17, 2017 at 9:50 am

   Dean Karnazes claims in his book, Ultra Marathon Man, that he would have pizzas delivered to him during his run. He would estimate where he would be at for their 20 minute delivery time and have them meet him at an intersection. (and than fold the pizza over and eat it as he ran). With these shoes that could’ve just tracked him down.

   Of course in this interview, it may have only happened once? http://runeatrepeat.com/2013/11/19/eating-pizza-while-runninginterview-with-dean-karnazes/

   Reply
2. 

   me

   March 16, 2017 at 6:17 pm

   In some areas pizza hut will also deliver beer, though I don’t know if they will deliver only beer or if a food purchase is required. 🙂

   Reply
   • 

     Kyle Schurman

     March 16, 2017 at 6:50 pm

     Ha – I haven’t noticed that at my local Pizza Hut, but that’d be a great service to have! Good to know!

     Reply