Winning Pizza Box Design Helps Family Pay Off Mortgage

10 June 2013

Winning Pizza Box Design Helps Cash-Strapped Family Pay Off Mortgage

His hair net firmly on, and his unmistakable red and blue uniform a perfect fit, Aaron Collins completes his look with a $5000 smile.

Today, the Dunedin family man earned a whopping $5000 wage for an hour-long shift at Domino's pizza outlet in Mt Roskill, Auckland.

The Domino's Pizza Biggest Wage Promotion winner nabbed the prize by coming up with a creative pizza box design for Domino's Pizza Sliders.

The $5000 win couldn't have come at a better time for the cycle teacher, 24, whose work hours have almost halved over recent months due to the weather.

"This is the best money I've ever made - and not only because it was the most fun I've had working, but because it will help me to support my wife and 18-month-old little girl," he says.

"Each of the pizzas I made has played a part in easing the financial pressure for my family as we meet out mortgage payments through the winter months. Hopefully there will also be some money left to celebrate!"

Collins says he enjoyed his eye-opening experience in-store so much that he'd love to own his own franchise one day.

"I would absolutely love to have the opportunity to run a Domino's store in the future," he says. "This whole experience has given me some food for thought!"

Tucking into a pepperoni pizza after his speedy shift, Collins says that he has a newfound appreciation for pizza-making now.

"Making the pizzas with the team has shown me there's a whole lot more to it than I realised. It truly is a whole new world behind the counter," he says.

"Now, when I order a pizza, I'll be more grateful for the effort that's gone into it! Doing my hour's work was exhilarating, and I'll always remember it as some of the most fast-paced 60 minutes of my life!"

Collins says he was impressed with the precision with which his pizza-making mentors crafted their creations.

"They work in a much more structured way than I could have imagined," he says. "There are a certain number of grams of topping that go on each pizza to achieve their flavour, and each slice has to have a piece of every topping. It's not all just thrown on, that's for sure!"

"The protocols were really thorough as well. There's a lot of hand-washing that goes on, and I've never seen so many hair nets!" he says.

Domino's ran the Biggest Wage Promotion to find someone to promote its Pizza Sliders, in a bid to make the launch of the range one of the most successful in history.

Domino's New Zealand General Manager, Josh Kilimnik, says Collins impressed the company with his idea of making the pizza boxes look like a Connect Four grid, along with tokens, in a nod to the four flavours in the Pizza Sliders range.

"We wanted to choose a winner who is innovative, and just as passionate about our brand as we are. Aaron fit the bill perfectly. He's a true pizza aficionado, whose creativity reflects our commitment to delivering a product that is always fresh and inventive," he says.

"He did a great job in-store, and we're really proud of him. He's the whole package."

Collins says his wife of three years, a teaching fellow, was just as rapt as he was about his win.

"We are both pizza crazy - picking up a pizza is always our go-to takeaway option. She's asked me to bring her home a pizza from my shift, but I hope she's joking!"

For more information please visit www.dominospizza.co.nz

Video footage - News Edit: https://www.dropbox.com/s/1lzmev6gj0p61j2/News_Edit.mov

Video footage - Online Edit: https://www.dropbox.com/s/yx5jbixplexmcua/ONLINE_VERSION.mov

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