You’ve just reached the top of Africa’s highest mountain after an arduous ascent, and to celebrate, you tuck into a slice of pepperoni (cheese crust) pizza, freshly delivered and still hot.
So now the only question is: how much do you tip the poor delivery guy? (As Aussies, we believe between 5 and 10 percent would be fair, do you agree?)
Wha-wait! What?
Yep, this actually just happened at the Uhuru Peak on the top of Mount Kilimanjaro in Tanzania – 5,895 metres above sea level.
The epic, multi-day delivery (it took five days to summit the mountain, and the pizzas were kept warm utilising a special heated backpack that was powered by batteries and custom designed by Pizza Hut) ended on 8 May and was made to celebrate Pizza Hut’s opening of a new store in Tanzania.
The world record pizza delivery was not a solo effort however.
The mountain ascent, led by experienced guides, was made up of a team of Pizza Hut employees that included General Manager of Pizza Hut Africa, Randall Blackford.
Together, they achieved the Guinness World Record for the highest altitude pizza delivery by land.
And what better way to celebrate such a monumental achievement than sharing a slice of pizza with your team, amidst cries of “hallelujah!” and “the pizza man is here!”
Just imagine how good that pizza would have tasted at nearly 6,000 metres above sea level, especially considering that summits to the top of Africa’s highest mountain routinely take between five and nine days.
They definitely earned those excess calories!
As well as consuming the pizza, the team also offered a donation to Msasani Primary School in Tanzania, the town where the new Pizza Hut is opening.
So what can we in the travel industry learn from this epic display of customer service?
Perhaps it’s that going above and beyond for a customer gets you noticed?
Indeed, according to some, the very survival of Travel Agents depends on understanding the pizza industry.