Domino's introduced a 30-minute delivery guarantee in 1979 to outcompete Pizza Hut, which did not offer delivery. The guarantee quickly became popular but created intense time pressure for drivers. Teenagers frequently made deliveries under strict deadlines and faced incentives tied to punctuality. Multiple crashes occurred, including a 1985 collision shortly before a deadline and a 1989 accident that left Jean Kinder with severe head and spinal injuries and triggered a punitive award later reduced by settlement. Legal fallout and deadly accidents prompted Domino's to eliminate or modify the guarantee, shifting to discounts and ending the free-pizza promise.
The phrase was once a well-known rule of pizza delivery in the 1980s and all but vanished in the 1990s. It dated back to 1979, when Domino's, in an attempt to compete with Pizza Hut, promoted its pizza as a better and faster alternative. At the time, Pizza Hut did not offer delivery. The promotion was hugely popular - until the unthinkable happened. A driver, in a hurry to meet the deadline, was involved in a collision.
With reportedly only seven minutes to spare to meet the 30-minute guarantee, a teenage Domino's delivery driver pulled out of a parking lot into traffic and immediately hit another car, causing injuries and damage. How did the manager of the Domino's store respond? They handed the pizza to another driver and told them there was still time to deliver it.
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