DALLAS Pizza Hut, based here, has introduced a new application for the Facebook Platform that allows consumers to place a delivery order with the chain without leaving the website.
Sources at Pizza Hut said its software integrates with Facebook's main commerce system and allows registered www.pizzahut.com users to browse the chain's full menu without leaving the social networking destination. Pizza Hut is no stranger to strategic online relationships: it made news in 2005 by providing a link to its online ordering system to players of the EverQuest II Internet game.
The Facebook interface represents another ordering option for Pizza Hut customers, who can also order at the chain's website via Internet-capable desktop computer or mobile device or by cell phone text-message.
Pizza Hut also plans to debut a redesigned Facebook page, where users can download the interface application and add Pizza Hut to their "favorites" to receive news, promotions and deals from the chain. Facebook users who become a Pizza Hut "fan" will be entered for a chance to win a $50 Pizza Hut gift card in weekly giveaways running through Dec. 31.
Pizza Hut, a division of Yum! Brands Inc., has 6,200 U.S. restaurants and more than 4,000 foreign locations.