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'Hello Pizza Hut: Do you deliver to Mt. Kilimanjaro?'

May 13, 2016 by S.A. Whitehead — Food Editor, Net World Media Group

When a franchise manages to enter its 100th country on the planet, it must do something a little different, or maybe a lot different in Pizza Hut’s case. The African nation of Tanzania was the 100th country to welcome Pizza Hut, which celebrated the opening by delivering a pizza to the top of Kilimanjaro, which is 20,000 feet above sea level, according to a company press release.

The delivery attracted the attention of the folks at the Guinness Book of World Records, which sent staff to document and certify the completed delivery as the official "highest altitude pizza delivery ever on land." (Remember, the Hut is also the chain that delivered a pizza to space 15 years ago.)

The delivery, which took three days to complete, began on May 5 with a freshly baked pie in the Tanzanian city of Dar Es Salaam. It required a plane, car and five sherpas to get the pizza to the top of the mountaintop, where Pizza Hut Africa's general manager, Randall Blackford, sat waiting to accept it. We certainly hope dished out some kind of tip, and perhaps some oxygen, to delivery sherpa No. 5, who sadly was not named in the press information. 

As you can imagine, Yum! execs are still basking in the afterglow of the feat.

"The pizza was pepperoni with extra cheese," said Doug Terfehr, Pizza Hut Senior Director of Public Relations, YUM! Brands. "We felt reaching the milestone of 100 countries was worthy of a special celebration, and what better way to show how we are taking the brand to new heights than with a delivery to the top of Mt. Kilimanjaro in the country where we just opened our newest restaurant? It was representative of a lot of things we love about Pizza Hut — teamwork, pushing the limits and leading the way."

 And believe it or not, word is that the pizza managed to arrive warm thanks to battery-powered backpacks and very committed delivery people.

About S.A. Whitehead

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Pizza Marketplace and QSRweb editor Shelly Whitehead is a former newspaper and TV reporter with an affinity for telling stories about the people and innovative thinking behind great brands.