As of early April 2017, Amazon has 257 Skills in the “Food & Drink” category. A clear indication that Alexa is trying to help you decide what to order or cook for dinner tonight. 

Did you ever wish you could order a pizza by talking to someone via a device in your home? 

Now you can! Technically you always could, ya know, by making a phone call to the pizza joint where you wanted to place an order. 

Ok, let's ask a different question… Did you ever wish you could order a pizza by talking to a device (not a real person) in your home, loaded with a limited amount of information and access to a very limited part of the menu? 

Said no one ever. 

Before knowing the experience of using the Pizza Hut Amazon Alexa skill I was excited to place my first order. 

Despite the limitations mentioned above, it is relatively easy to place a very simple order.

Below are the steps I took to place my first pizza order via the Amazon Echo. 

7:28 - Amy and I decided we were ordering pizza for dinner. 

• I opened the Pizza Hut website…
• Instead of doing my normal order method, I decided to see if Alexa could do the ordering for me. 

*Unlocked phone*

• Open Alexa App
• Went to Skills
• Searched for “Pizza Hut”
• Logged into my previously created account on the Pizza Hut website through the app 
• Alexa Skill set up complete. 

*Set down phone. - Started talking to the Echo* (note: Alexa involvement below are not direct quotes)

• Jeff - “Alexa, ask Pizza Hut to place an order” 
• Alexa - carry out or delivery 
• Jeff - “Delivery” 
• Alexa - confirms previously provided address 

*Open phone” 

• Went to Pizza Hut website to find the name of one of their box deals. 
• To attempt to order the "Big Dinner Box" I needed to look up the name. 
• Jeff- “Big Dinner Box" 
• Alexa- don't understand what you are trying to order

*I gave up on order ordering the big box. - sets down phone* 

• Alexa - What would you like to order? You can choose from pizza, breadsticks, etc...
• Jeff - blah
• Alexa- Type of crust 
• Jeff - blah
• Alexa- Size of pizza 
• Jeff - LARGE, is there any other size? 
• Alexa- toppings 
• Jeff - Add breadsticks 
• Alexa- Default payment is not set, you have to go online to set default payment
• Alexa- do you want to pay with cash? 
• Jeff- Yes
• Alexa- Your order is pending order confirmation. Please check your email for confirmation. If an email doesn't come, please call the store.  

7:36 - Confirmation email shows up. 

In less than 10 minutes, the skill was configured and my first order was placed. Like several of the Alexa skills I have written about in the "Alexa could you please series", these offerings show promise but some improvements to be made before they completely replace the established process. 

Next time the gumption to cook dinner is low, I plan to play around with the settings on the account to see what else the Skill can do, so expect a part two soon!