Delivery

Japanese Domino's customers get pies by reindeer

November 28, 2016

Domino's — never one to shy away from a delivery challenge — has opted to go "old school" for its latest delivery dilemma work-around in the snowy northernmost part of Japan, Hokkaido. The chain is dispatching antlered delivery drivers this holiday season in the area to become what is quite likely to be the first pizza deliveries by reindeer.

According to a Domino's Japan news release, the chain is working with reindeer breeders in the area at the Hokkaido Delivery Integrated Research Center to train Dasher and Donner to deliver pizza, with a a full-scale rollout of the new, but retro delivery vehicles in December.

The chain said the reindeer will be tracked in real-time by a "GPS driver tracker," particularly since meteorologists have said this will be a particularly severe winter in this part of Japan. Forecasts call for extremely heavy snowfall and plummeting temperatures, which we're fairly sure reindeer would laugh at if reindeer could laugh.

The chain has said its digital orders have skyrocketed in the area, so they turned to the reindeer to save the day, much like St. Nick apparently did according to the storybooks. No information was provided about the possibility of these particular reindeer being capable of taking flight for their deliveries, but the chain's Japanese arm has said it is taking every precaution to ensure the welfare of its delivery reindeer on their snowy treks to hungry customers. For instance, the chain has said that it has worked with experts to determine the exact maximum load a reindeer can carry and how long the furry little steeds can carry such weights.