23-yr-old saw a delivery boy uploading a trash bag on his bike. He clicked pictures, uploaded them on Twitter. Within a few hours he received hundreds of retweets expressing rage and concern

‘Not all addictions are harmful’ — this is one of the catch lines at the Domino’s Pizza outlet in Warje, Pune, located on the service road of Mumbai Bangalore highway. However, placing a home delivery order from this outlet can be harmful to health as the outlet transports both pizza and garbage on the same pizza delivery bikes! Udit Sathaye, a 23-year-old Punekar, exposed this ill practice of the outlet, which poses a threat to hundreds of customers’ health.



The bag of trash which was later uploaded on to the Domino’s bike, (inset) Udit Sathaye, who tweeted about the incident. Pic/ Udit Sathaye

How the secret was unveiled

On Friday afternoon, Sathaye was sitting with his friends in a café, adjacent to the pizza outlet, when he observed a delivery boy of Domino’s uploading a bag full of trash on his bike. He packed the garbage in the same fibre box, which is actually reserved for delivering pizza. Shocked by this unacceptable unhygienic way of transporting waste, Sathaye clicked couple of pictures of the incident and soon uploaded them on his Twitter handle. Within a few hours he received hundreds of retweets expressing rage and concern over Domino’s lackadaisical approach.



A pizza delivery boy of Domino's is about to move with garbage in the box of his bike at Domino's Warje outlet in Pune situated at Mumbai Bangalore Highway. Pics/Udit Sathaye

Damage control

“After I uploaded the pictures on Twitter at 4 pm on Friday, I received a call from Domino’s Pizza’s Mumbai office. The officer apologised and requested me to delete the tweet. But I was adamant that I wouldn’t do it,” said Sathaye. Around 8 pm, he received another call from the West Zone India Head for Domino’s Pizza India, Navin Kumar. “In both conversations they asked me what they could do to make up for it. I said they should close the outlet,” he said. When this correspondent visited the above-mentioned Domino’s outlet, the staff and the branch manager preferred to remain tight-lipped. There were at least 25 pizza delivery bikes parked in front of the outlet.



The Domino outlet. Pic/Niranjan Medhekar



Another image of the outlet. Pic/Uday Sathaye





One of the wall posters in the Domino's Warje outlet. Pic/ Niranjan Medhekar

Later, a clarification was issued by Domino’s Pizza India Vice President (Marketing) Harneet Singh Rajpal stating, “Jubilant FoodWorks Limited/ Domino’s Pizza would like to hereby clarify and categorically state that the company has and adheres to the highest standards of quality and hygiene at every restaurant. We have a team of personnel (at every restaurant) to monitor and ensure the standards and hygiene procedures. This incidence is a one-off and clearly against our company’s policy, standards and training. We are verifying the same and would take appropriate action against the defaulters.”