Pizza Hut Wants to Read Your Mind With New Digital Menu The pizza chain says its 'Subconscious Menu' can determine what pizza you are craving in less than three seconds.
By Kate Taylor
Opinions expressed by BIZ Experiences contributors are their own.
Updated at 11:20 a.m. ET.
Telepathy has never been so tasty.
Pizza Hut is rolling out a digital menu that reads customers' minds to prepare their order. The pizza chain partnered with eye tracking tech company Tobii Technology to develop the "Subconscious Menu," which will roll out in refurbished restaurants across the U.K.
The Subconscious Menu allows customers to order without speaking by tracking eye movement. In just 2.5 seconds, the menu collects data on where customers' eyes focus and calculates which of the 4,896 possible ingredient combinations will fulfill their cravings.
Here's a video with the play-by-play of how the process works:
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In tests, the Subconscious Menu has a 98 percent success rate. If customers don't like the menu's recommendation, they can always restart the process or order the old-fashioned way.
"This year we've redesigned restaurants up and down the country and launched a brand new menu with lots tasty new options. But we don't just want to stop there," Kathryn Austin, Pizza Hut's head of marketing, said in a statement. "We wanted to try a few ideas on the traditional menu format and we're delighted to have developed the world's first Subconscious Menu."
Pizza Hut has not yet determined a timeline for the menu's roll out, according to a company spokesperson. The pizza chain will decide whether or not to bring the Subconscious Menu to the U.S. based on the results from testing in the U.K.
In November, Pizza Hut announced a slew of serious changes that include doubling menu options, redesigning the website, pizza boxes and logo and revamping employee attire. Looking at sales figures, the overhaul makes sense: The pizza chain has suffered eight straight quarters of same-store sales declines. If all these changes can't help jumpstart sales, maybe a mind-reading menu will do the trick.
