Fast Food Chain Filling Potholes in the US

Cash strapped councils in America are getting help with road repairs thanks to an unlikely source; Domino's Pizza.

Domino's has rolled out its 'Paving for Pizza' initiative, which aims to 'smooth the ride home' for customers by carrying out pothole repairs in towns that have been nominated by customers.

So far, Domino's has repaired damaged roads in Texas, Georgia, Burbank, and others. In Milford, Delaware, the pizza makers utilised a four-person crew to fix 40 potholes across 10 roads in 10 hours.

Eric Norenberg, City Manager of the town, said: “Facing an already harsher winter than usual for Delaware, this is an opportunity to get additional money to stretch our city’s limited resources.”

A press release issued by Russell Weiner, president of Domino's USA, outlines the reasons behind the move: “Have you ever hit a pothole and instantly cringed? We know that feeling is heightened when you’re bringing home a carryout order from your local Domino’s store. We don’t want to lose any great-tasting pizza to a pothole, ruining a wonderful meal.”

It's undoubtedly a great piece of public relations work for the pizza company, one that genuinely will help its customers and the greater community. But could we see something similar in the UK?

Any such activity raises plenty of questions; such as why government and councils don’t properly fund pothole repair, and whether industry should be shouldering the financial burden of a shortage of public cash.

There doesn't seem to be any plans for Domino's to launch the scheme internationally at the moment, so such questions can wait.

For now, we'll just have to be brace ourselves for the spread of potholes as the temperatures drop towards the end of the year.

Share this article