The Japanese arm of Domino's Pizza was taking public relations to new heights Thursday with plans to build the first pizzeria on the moon, The (London) Daily Telegraph reported.

The stunt follows rival chain Pizza Hut's mission to the International Space Station in 2001, when a pizza was delivered to astronauts orbiting the earth.

"We started thinking about this project last year, although we have not yet determined when the restaurant might open," spokesman Tomohide Matsunaga told the newspaper.

Domino's said the Maeda construction company had begun drawing up plans for a two-story, dome-shaped lunar eatery. It added that the eatery's staff would live on-site at the 28-yard-wide (26-meter-wide) building.

The restaurant chain estimated that the cost of turning the stunt into reality would be about ¥1.67 trillion ($21.8 billion).

Some 15 rockets would be required to deliver 70 tons (63.5 tonnes) of construction materials and pizza-making equipment to the moon.

"In the future, we anticipate there will be many people living on the moon -- astronauts who are working there and, in the future, citizens of the moon," Matsunaga added.