LOUISVILLE, Ky. -- Just before one of the three busiest pizza delivery days of the yearthe night before ThanksgivingPapa John's International Inc. has rolled out a text message ordering option at its 2,700 U.S. restaurants. It's a progression from the pizza maker's online ordering, which began in 2001 and now accounts for nearly 20% of its U.S. sales.
"Just a few years ago, e-mail was a revolutionary way to keep in touch with friends and family, and Papa John's responded in-kind with online ordering," said Jim Ensign, vice president, marketing communications [image-nocss] for Papa John's International, Inc. "Now, more than 48% of mobile phone owners use text messaging to communicate with their friends and family every day. And just as we did with online ordering, Papa John's is proud to take the ease of text message communication one step further with our convenient text message ordering option."
Customers first register online at www.papajohns.com and save their favorite orders, delivery and payment preferences with the Papa John's "Favorites Wizard." Once registered online, the Papa John's consumer can simply text FAV1, FAV2, etc. to 4PAPA (47272). Papa John's then sends a text message detailing the order and requesting confirmation from the consumer. The consumer presses Y1 to confirm the order for FAV1 or N1 to change the order. Once confirmed, the closest Papa John's restaurant processes the order.
Louisville, Ky.-based Papa John's is the world's third largest pizza company.
Meanwhile, Domino's Pizza Inc. has recently started a system that lets customers place orders from Web-enabled mobile devices. The new ordering system, launched a few months ago, is now available at about 3,000 Domino's locations and will spread to all of the chain's approximately 5,100 U.S. restaurants next year, Rob Weisberg, a marketing vice president for the Ann Arbor, Mich.-based company, told the Associated Press.
Bear Stearns restaurant analyst Joe Buckley said the new ordering methods could help the chains win brand loyalty among people who will be eating pizza for decades to come. "The high-technology ways of reaching customers probably appeal to younger people, who live with their text messaging and their BlackBerry," he said.
Nigel Travis, Papa John's president and CEO, said he envisions hungry customers text messaging from malls or theaters so when they get home their pizza orders will be on the way.
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