Pizza Hut iPhone App

Pizza Hut's ordering app came out in August 2009, so it's not the newest app out there, but it is pretty cool regardless. Like the Domino's website, you can build your pizza visually before ordering. On the iPhone this works by dragging the toppings from the pictures on the top of the screen to the pizza or just tapping the items. There is a video about the app on YouTube that describes the various features, including finding a nearby location, finding deals and saving your favorite pizza for frequent ordering. It's fun.




-Molly

Online Menu Database

http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/view-any-restaurant-menu-openmneu/

This menu site is working to collect menus from every kind of restaurant so that potential consumers can type in what they want to eat (i.e. chocolate cake) and the search will tell you what restaurants in your area are serving cake.

The search engine is at http://openmenu.com/search/

While the menus are being collected at http://openmenu.com/projects.php

I am a little skeptical, because I just typed in a search for "Pad Thai" in the "14850" zip code and it returned places in San Diego, CA. However, that issue aside, it seemed to be similar to what was spoken about in 4451 today, many 6606'ers are in that class, about the ability to search all the roast beef sandwiches on 50 different menus and compare prices. I think that once this web site is out of its beta testing, it will have this ability. This could cause price wars between restaurants for specific menu items the way consumers can currently go online and compare plane ticket fares.

When Envy in on the Menu

Here is an article from The Atlantic about when customers notice other customers getting VIP treatment:

http://www.theatlantic.com/food/archive/2009/06/when-envy-is-on-the-menu/20275/