Now Kyle can get his favorite pizza delivered right to his door!
NEW GLASGOW – The spicy pepperoni and brown sauce particular to a Pictou County pizza is something many miss when they move away from home, but lately, local pizzeria Acropole has been sending some long-distance deliverers to doors all across Canada.
Former Pictou County residents can order their favourite pizza from anywhere in Canada. Whatever kind of pizza they’re craving, whether it’s pepperoni and cheese, combo or even a donair, Acropole will cook it, UPS will ship it frozen and it will be there within a day or two.
Milton Gallant, owner of the UPS Store in Westside Shopping Centre, pitched the idea for a marketing campaign with Acropole to one of its employees who was dropping off a pizza at the store.
“We ship odd items across Canada anyway like Fritos, Sobeys peanut butter, all-dressed chips to the U.S., so I just said to the pizza delivery guy, ‘we should put a sign up in the store because we do these things.’ He said, ‘Sure, I’ll ask the boss.’”
On Thursday, Gallant received approval from Drea Cougias, whose family owns the Acropole business, and he placed signs in the local pizza shops that say, “Who ships Acropole pizza in Canada? The UPS Store.”
Photos of the signs quickly spread to Pictou County expats through social media and the day after the signs went up, Gallant said there were about 15 messages on the UPS answering machine from people all across Canada wanting Pictou County pizza sent their way.
“I’m surprised at the impact of Facebook. For something that just happened on Thursday and Friday morning to come in to see that many calls from Edmonton, Calgary, Ontario, it blows you away,” he said.
Gallant said the furthest they’ve shipped Pictou County pizza so far has been to British Columbia. They’ve also had a number shipped to Alberta.
The cost to send six pizzas in one box to Fort McMurray is about $80 Gallant said, adding that Fort McMurray is a bit more expensive because it’s in an extended delivery area. He also said UPS can deliver to most places in Canada with next day delivery, while places in extended areas such as Fort McMurray usually take two days.
Gallant said their Pictou County pizza deliveries aren’t limited to Acropole and that Acropole is just the first shop to have signs advertising it. He said since the signs have gone up in Acropole, they’ve received calls for other pizza shops as well.
Gallant said people call UPS first to get a quote on the shipping cost, then they call their favourite Pictou County pizza shop and place the order, have someone local pick up the pizza, freeze it and bring it to the UPS Store which then ships it frozen. Gallant said most shipments are six pizzas in a 15 by 15 inch box.
“We had one woman in Medicine Hat and she had $250 worth in shipping of pizza products. She thought it was just great and couldn’t believe she could have it,” he said. “She was going to have a bunch of people from New Glasgow get together out there, people from Pictou County and have a pizza party.”
Cougias said some long-distance Acropole customers have been getting UPS to ship their pizzas for a while now.
“It started with a local police officer who had it sent to his daughter in Ontario. He had it shipped through UPS and he was telling a couple people and it just went from there,” he said.
Cougias said people are willing to pay to have Pictou County pizza shipped to their doorstep “because you can’t get this anywhere else.”
Sacha Smith of New Glasgow, currently living in Fredericton, N.B., said she found out Friday and is planning on looking at shipping costs.
“There are no words to describe how awesome that news was,” she said.
Cpl. Jeff Rector, a soldier in the Canadian Armed Forces based in Edmonton, found out about the service on his phone while on a field exercise in Wainwright, Alta.
"I just might do that myself," he said. "It's only $80 for some of the best pizza ever."
