Philadelphia's Muncho Has The Secret To 12-Minute Pizza Delivery

Your pizza's delivery time from the oven to your home has a lot of variables that play into its quality, from traffic conditions and distance, to just how long the pizza was sitting out before it was delivered. We've got tips on how to ensure your pizza tastes practically new, but one pizza startup has figured out a way to not only get you the freshest pizza possible, but also deliver it to you within a shockingly short amount of time.

Insider reports that Philadelphia-based pizzeria, Muncho, delivers orders to customers, on average, in 12.5 minutes. The restaurant's menu is very tight; there's only five regular pizzas on its menu with a rotating special as its sixth. Sides include fries and garlic bread, so the company's not necessarily reinventing the wheel in terms of its offerings.

What is novel, however, is how they're delivered to you. Muncho's delivery vans have been retrofitted with ovens, meaning the pizzas bake during their transit time to your location. As a former pizzamaker that's interested in how technology improves the final product, consider me impressed.

That means the delivery drivers double as the cooks. But they're not stretching the dough, topping it, and firing it in the van. The pizzas are par-baked at a commissary kitchen, and they finish cooking as they head your way. It isn't entirely a novel concept, as some pizzerias offer partially baked pizza for you to finish in your own oven in order to get the freshest version possible. But cooking in the delivery vehicle is a new one.

The average time of 12.5 minutes means that some customers even get their pizzas anywhere between within six to 10 minutes, which is absolutely unheard of. Because Muncho delivers within a small high density populated area, its drivers are able to make up to five stops per hour with no need to act recklessly (I'm looking at you, Domino's) to make short delivery times. So this model wouldn't necessarily work as well in a small town or even a large suburb.

Tip isn't necessarily required, either, since drivers make a livable wage of $22 an hour. The pizzas are a slight bit on the pricey side depending on the offering, but $14 for a plain pie and $16 for a pepperoni isn't terrible, especially considering tipping is up to you and because the food arrives so quickly.

Whether or not this method of delivery is going to be the future of fast food pizza, we'll have to see. It might not work terribly well for customized pies, and not for sparsely populated areas. If there's horrendous traffic, who knows if the pizza will overcook if it has to sit for an unforeseen amount of extra time. But Muncho's strategy is worth keeping an eye on, because for those who want pizza soon, this might be your best solution.