Pizza-delivery drivers, who helped chains such as Domino’s Pizza Inc. and Pizza Hut boost their sales during the Covid-19 pandemic, have become one of the $45 billion industry’s biggest problems. Chain executives said a shortage of drivers is costing them sales and frustrating customers with long wait times. Rising fuel and car-maintenance costs have made the job less appealing over the past year, workers said, as most drivers need to use their personal vehicles for pizza runs, and some said they deal with crime. Pizza restaurants’ often rigid schedules also make it harder to recruit and retain drivers, some operators said, versus more flexible food delivery apps such as Uber Technologies Inc.’s Uber Eats and Grubhub Inc.

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