DHL Express has been entered in the Guinness Book of World Records for performing the largest pizza delivery in history for Pizzas 4 Patriots, a non-profit organization. Since 2008, DHL Express and Pizzas 4 Patriots have joined forces to bring a “slice of home” to US troops serving overseas.
In July 2012, DHL Express donated the services of its global express shipping network, delivering 30,000 Chicago-style deep-dish pizzas from Chicago IL to US troops serving in Kandahar, Bagram, and Camp Bastion in Afghanistan. The delivery, covering a distance of more than 6,800 miles within 36 hours, was officially recognized by the Guinness Book of World Records in April 2013 as the “largest pizza delivery.”
The delivery process involved packing 30,000 ready-to-bake pizzas—weighing more than 23 tons—onto a Boeing 777 air freighter. Pizzas were then transported from the DHL Express Americas hub in Cincinnati OH to the DHL Express air hub in Bahrain. From there, the massive care package was forwarded by DHL Express to the US military’s operational bases in Afghanistan, in time for US Independence Day celebrations July 4. In order to maintain the quality of the perishable pizzas during transit, they were packed in 11 tons of dry ice. DHL Quality Control Centers also closely monitored the consignment throughout the journey.
Pizzas 4 Patriots is the brainchild of retired military officer Mark Evans and his son, Kent, who founded the non-profit organization in order to send pizzas to US service personnel stationed in Afghanistan and Iraq for major holidays and celebrations such as the Super Bowl and Independence Day. To date, DHL Express has delivered more than 120,000 pizzas to Afghanistan and Iraq for Pizzas 4 Patriots.
For more information, visit www.Pizzas4Patriots.com.
