This Restaurant Is Offering a ‘Pay When You Die’ Deal

You can have pizza now, but there will be hell to pay later — much, much later, hopefully.

New Zealand-based Hell Pizza is introducing AfterLife Pay, which the chain describes as a “payment scheme” where you win pizza for nothing right now and in exchange agree to write a legally binding IOU into your will — “without any pesky late fees or penalties.”

The unique promotion is intended to poke fun at “buy now, pay later” (BNPL) type loans, which the pizza chain argues are getting out of hand now that they’re available for even takeout food, at least in New Zealand. People who use BNPL loans are much more likely to be deep in debt and reliant on pawn shops or other high-interest options such as payday loans, according to the U.S. Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.

It’s not quite a deal with the devil, just a pizza company’s lawyers. And for better or worse, the “opportunity” is not available to Americans — Hell Pizza says by mid-June it will extend the offer to 666 lucky folks living in New Zealand, and another 666 in Australia.

This gimmick isn’t all that outlandish for the pizza company, which sells pies named “Purgatory” and “Brimstone,” and pies named after six of the seven deadly sins, among other things. (“Sloth” pizza would apparently send the wrong message.)

Nothing in the fine print of the promotion mentions giving up your soul or firstborn child. New Zealanders and Australians can safely apply through June 17, 2023.