After last week's decidedly high-tech story of Domino's completing the world's first ever pizza delivery by drone, we now have news that the company is still counting on very traditional means to quickly get its piping hot grub to customers at this time of year. Traditional, but not exactly orthodox...

The global takeaway chain has revealed that it has been training reindeer to make deliveries in the Japanese island of Hokkaido.

A press release from the company's arm has emerged stating that Domino's has been working with reindeer breeders at the Hokkaido Delivery Integrated Research Centre to teach them how to get that margherita to your door in the most adverse winter conditions. Hey, they've been giving Santa a dig-out all these years.

Domino's

The animals, forever linked in the public consciousness with the season of goodwill, will be fully rolled-out in December to deal with the Japanese weather, which is forecast to be extremely cold and feature severe snowfalls this season.

It has also been confirmed that the reindeer will be tracked in real-time by a "GPS driver tracker". Domino's has stated that it is taking "all possible steps" to ensure the reindeer's welfare, and has been testing how much weight and distance each deer can comfortably manage.