Almost six weeks have passed since the winning 2.6 million dollar bid in the Pizza.com domain name auction, and there is still no word of the transaction being completed from the seller, buyer or broker. The website has not changed; it remains a partially developed page with news that hasn’t been updated in five months, banner advertisements for various restaurants, and a public message board for posting random pizza thoughts. Something I found funny, are the numerous postings from visitors offering their own pizza related domains for sale. For the moment at least, the thing bringing people to the Pizza.com website is not freshly baked pies — it’s the dream of making some fresh cash.

The only thing that’s changed is the domain’s whois record information, which has been switched to a ‘private’ registration. Some would say it’s a sign of the transaction being finished, and the new owner wanting to stay anonymous for a while. Others will point to a cover-up or conspiracy. Ever since this sale was first announced, there’s been no shortage of skeptics claiming it was “Fake”. I guess only time will tell.

I was discussing this topic with my friend RJ, a domainer himself and owner of the Internet’s #1 domain community NamePros.com. I asked who he thought the buyer might be, assuming of course the sale turns out to be legitimate. Was it Pizza Hut? Domino’s? Papa John’s? Some new pizza brand? His answer might surprise you.

“Not necessarily any of the above” he told me. He also said the 2.6 million price tag made it “unlikely to be another domainer looking to flip the name”, which means re-selling to somebody else at a profit. He added “It could be a private group wanting to start a company to centralize the pizza business like Hotels.com has done for the lodging industry.”

Stay tuned folks — I will update when more information becomes available.

With so many people watching the Pizza.com domain auction with interest, we here at FFC were curious to see how many of the Fast-Food related Domain Names are owned by companies within the industry. They already spend millions of dollars to brand their names and logos, so we wondered how many of them own the generic domain counterparts of the fast-food products they sell. Below is a list of the domain names we checked out, and the results of our research. There are eighteen names in total, and it might surprise you to learn that most are just sitting there undeveloped.

18 prime food domains… only 4 are owned or developed by food companies.

Burgers.com — Owned by Carl’s Jr. (Hardees) restaurants. The name is being used to forward traffic to the main Carl’s Jr. website. The Carl’s Jr site is fully developed, well designed, interactive and fun to visit. We are impressed.

Tacos.com — Owned by Desert de Oro Foods, a group of Taco Bell franchisees. The name takes you to a mini-site with only limited information. There’s really nothing to see here, except a list of the franchise store locations, and a contact form.

IceCream.com — Owned by the Nestle Corporation / Dreyers Ice Cream. The name first takes you to page asking what part of the country you are from, then to a page promoting the various ice cream brands and products available from the company. There’s some type of Scooby-Doo product connection or promotion, but the whole website seems half-hearted and unfinished.

MexicanFood.com — Owned by the Taco Villa restaurant. The name takes you to a fully developed “Taco Villa” website. This is a Canadian company, with 15 restaurant locations, all in Canada. It’s a nicely designed, professional looking site.

Hamburgers.com — a parking page, privately owned.
Cheeseburgers.com — a parking page, privately owned.
Sandwiches.com — a parking page, privately owned.
Fries.com — a parking page, privately owned.
FrenchFries.com — 1-page site, describing importance of a good domain.
Nachos.com — nothing, dead page.
Burritos.com — a parking page, privately owned.
Chicken.com — a parking page, privately owned.
FriedChicken.com — a parking page, privately owned.
OnionRings.com — nothing, dead page, privately owned.
Donuts.com — a parking page, privately owned.
HotDogs.com — a parking page, privately owned.
Chili.com — a parking page, privately owned.
Pizza.com — currently for sale, in auction format, at Sedo.com

Note: A “parking page” is a simple 1-page site with paid advertisements or links on it. The purpose is to take advantage of any traffic (visitors) the web address might receive. A common practice by domain owners who haven’t developed a company, brand or content. Usually a better choice than just having a dead page.

The domain name Pizza.com is currently for sale, with a high bid over 2.5 million dollars. The name is being sold by it’s owner in a live web auction via Sedo.com, the world’s largest marketplace for buying and selling domain names. With over 3 days still left in the auction, we can only guess how high it will go. It would seem almost certain to break the 3 million dollar mark, but some are saying it could reach 4 or 5 million. Whatever the final price, this is a sweet piece of ‘virtual’ real estate, and some serious money being spent on it.

You can follow the auction by clicking here. The identity of the bidders are kept private, so if you’re hoping to see a bidding war between Pizza Hut, Domino’s and Papa John’s, you will be disappointed. Of course, there is no guarantee the established Pizza Giant’s of the food industry are behind the multimillion dollar bids, or even interested in the name. But it raises an interesting point, about who the bidders are, and who will eventually walk away with this valuable Internet property. We will keep this story covered with a follow up after the sale is completed and made public.