How AI agents could change restaurant ordering

AI agents can order pizza. | Photo: Shutterstock

In 1994, Pizza Hut quietly launched what may have been the first online ordering site.

Called PizzaNet, the bare-bones portal allowed customers in certain areas of Santa Cruz to view a rudimentary menu, type in their order, address, and phone number, and have the info sent to the nearest Pizza Hut, via the chain’s headquarters in Wichita, Kansas, thanks to a new technology called the World Wide Web. An employee at the store would then call the customer to verify the order. Payment was handled at the point of delivery. 

A Los Angeles Times article described the novel ordering system as “half-baked,” noting that while it had potential, it was still less efficient than calling the store directly.  

The simple interface of PizzaNet.

But Pizza Hut correctly foresaw that the internet would one day be a legitimate ordering channel for restaurants. In the decades to come, the web transformed how restaurants and retailers do business by giving consumers the ability to buy things from the comfort of their homes.

Today, restaurants’ websites and mobile apps are essentially second storefronts, with sophisticated menu designs and marketing tools designed to get customers to spend more and come back more often. The internet has also given rise to delivery networks like DoorDash and Uber Eats that have made delivery an option for virtually any restaurant.