937
Pizza Hut's AI system caused 'cascading' problems and $100M in damages, franchisee alleges in new suit (www.businessinsider.com)
submitted 3 months ago by to c/technology@lemmy.world
172 comments fedilink hide all child comments
 

The complaint says DoorDash drivers began waiting to batch multiple orders together after gaining virtual visibility into kitchen systems, allowing them to see when pizzas would come out of the oven.

Instead of immediately leaving with a completed order, the suit claims drivers waited "up to fifteen (15) minutes" for additional deliveries, increasing the time between when a pizza is removed from the oven rack and when it leaves the building to be delivered. That delay slowed deliveries, disappointed customers, and caused a sharp drop in sales, the suit says.

The lawsuit also alleges Dashers could see tip amounts and whether orders were cash payments, making some drivers less likely to accept certain deliveries.

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
[–] 40 points 3 months ago (2 children)

Pizza hut should be a fucking textbook case study on how to run a much-beloved brand into the ground.

Quiznos might be slightly worse- they were in financial trouble so their brilliant solution was let's fuck over our franchisees. I'll give you 3 guesses how that worked out, but you'll only need one.

  • permalink
  • fedilink
  • source
  • hideshow 4 child comments
    •
  • [–] [S] 12 points 3 months ago (2 children)

    I used to love going to Quiznos. Never see them anymore hah.

  • permalink
  • fedilink
  • source
  • parent
  • hideshow 4 child comments
    •
  • [–] 10 points 3 months ago (1 child)

    Me, too. Used to be 4,700 locations, now down to about 150, apparently.

  • permalink
  • fedilink
  • source
  • parent
  • hideshow 2 child comments
    •
  • [–] 8 points 3 months ago

    Apparently if you screw the franchisees and make it impossible for them to make any money, they stop being franchisees and close their stores.

    Unfortunately, this outcome could not have been predicted ahead of time.

  • permalink
  • fedilink
  • source
  • parent
  • [–] 9 points 3 months ago (2 children)

    Quiznos had amazing quality when they first opened but it dropped when they tried to compete with the subway $5 footlong deal. They should have differentiated themselves as the premium sandwich brand because while subway is pretty good, Quiznos early on was a whole other level. Me and my housemate at the time used to go there and order 2 subs, one for now and one for later (that often worked out to be right after the first one was done, in practice).

    There were some locations that stayed open around here for a like a decade after, but it was always disappointing going there. They were still better than subway but only marginally.

    I like Firehouse Subs these days. Not quite as good as Quiznos at its peak, but closer to that than Subway (which was always better than Mr Sub).

  • permalink
  • fedilink
  • source
  • parent
  • hideshow 4 child comments
    •
  • [–] 3 points 3 months ago (1 child)

    Quizno's had a steak/cheddar sub with this mustardy BBQ sauce that I can still remember pretty vividly.

  • permalink
  • fedilink
  • source
  • parent
  • hideshow 2 child comments
    •
  • [–] 3 points 3 months ago

    One of my usuals was a prime rib with this sauce that I can't even remember other than it was delicious. I think the other one I used to get was a phily cheesesteak, though can't remember for sure. They were very popular around that time, I remember McDonald's actually had the best philly cheasesteak sauce at the time from the ones I tried, but Quiznos would have had a better overall sandwich if they did do one.

  • permalink
  • fedilink
  • source
  • parent
  • [–] 3 points 3 months ago (1 child)

    They should have differentiated themselves as the premium sandwich brand because while subway is pretty good, Quiznos early on was a whole other level.

    Absolutely this. Subway pre sliced meats and (at the time) lack of toasting was a perfect thing to target. 'Yeah you can pay $5 for a sub the size of a size ten foot with meats that come from a factory, but you get what you pay for. Here at Quiznos all our meats and cheese are sliced fresh in store, the bread is always fresh, and every sub gets perfectly toasted to order. Try us and see the difference.' (then show a wimpy subway sandwich next to a cheesy melty meaty quiznos sub).

    Really is too bad. Here in CT, Jersey Mikes is expanding- their deal is they slice the meat right in front of you so it's fresher. They also do fresh grilled cheese steaks on a flat top grill, those are WAY better than the subway 'cardboard tray of single serving meat' approach.

  • permalink
  • fedilink
  • source
  • parent
  • hideshow 2 child comments
    •
  • [–] 2 points 3 months ago (1 child)

    Agreed except I don't recall a time that subway didn't toast their sandwiches, though you had to ask specifically of you wanted the veggies toasted since they usually just did the meats and cheese.

  • permalink
  • fedilink
  • source
  • parent
  • hideshow 2 child comments
    •
  • [–] 2 points 3 months ago (1 child)

    I think it was sometime around the '$5 footlong' era they put turbochef ovens in the stores...

  • permalink
  • fedilink
  • source
  • parent
  • hideshow 2 child comments
    •
  • [–] 2 points 3 months ago (1 child)

    I pretty much boycotted subway over this but ate there a lot before Quiznos and would always get my sub toasted. They might have upgraded the ovens/toasters, though.

    I think they are faster, like they used to have enough time to build a friend's sub while the first sub was toasting but now they don't.

  • permalink
  • fedilink
  • source
  • parent
  • hideshow 2 child comments
    •
  • [–] 2 points 3 months ago

    Yeah that's the turbochef- variants of that exists at starbucks, dunkin, etc. It's an oven that takes like 10,000 watts of power, uses a combination of infrared broiler and microwave and convection at the same time to turn a cold food item hot and crispy/sizzly in 45 seconds.

  • permalink
  • fedilink
  • source
  • parent
  • [–] 12 points 3 months ago (2 children)

    Yeah, Pizza Hut used to be the gold standard for Pizza. Sometimes we couldn't afford it and we'd have to get another brand, but we'd pine for the pizza hut we wished we had.

    I had friends whose parents would always order a Pizza Hut pizza every single Friday. Never missed a Friday.

    It was so fun to go to the restaurant too. It smelled so friggin' good in there and those pan pizzas we're just absolutely perfect fresh served to your table. I think they used to put butter on the crust. It was all dark in there and they had those red candles; almost seemed like a sacred place. lol

    Now they're so terrible. All the chain Pizza places have weird cheese that tastes like shit and all the toppings seem like they're just fake, like you're eating plastic or something. Gross.

  • permalink
  • fedilink
  • source
  • parent
  • hideshow 4 child comments
    •
  • [–] 2 points 3 months ago

    All food is terrible now? That's because Sysco food has monopolized the food service supply chain. It is also why school lunches are terrible.

    However, if the US had the balls to eminent domain and take over, we could revolutionize the food in america.

  • permalink
  • fedilink
  • source
  • parent
  • [–] 2 points 3 months ago

    Yeah I miss the Pizza Hut restaurants. There was some kind of fat or oil on the dough that got all crispy and good in the pan... their pizza was just flat out better than most competition.

    I wish someone with some vision would buy Pizza Hut or Quiznos and bring them back to their former glory. I think there's a market for it.

  • permalink
  • fedilink
  • source
  • parent