A Florida branch of popular fast-food chain Chick-fil-A is now offering local customers the opportunity to have their meals delivered to their door by drone.
Customers that live within a 1.2-mile radius of Chick-fil-A’s branch in Brandon/Valrico can order via the app and check the ‘drone delivery’ box and, if they order between 10am and 6pm Monday to Friday, their spicy chicken treats will be flown to them by drone.
When customers choose drone delivery, an employee packs the order into a cardboard box – including drinks, which are sealed prior to bagging – which is when attached to a drone that then flies to its chosen destination. The box is lowered to the customer’s property via a cable, before being dropped gently on the ground for the customer to pick up.
Currently, drone delivery is only for a limited time, although Chick-fil-A said it hopes to extend its range to a two-mile radius of the branch soon.
DroneUp is providing the drone technology for Chick-fil-A. The Virginia-based tech provider has previous experience of providing such services, having worked on a similar service with Walmart in Tampa last year.
So far, the service has been met with approval from local diners, with some taking to the restaurant’s Facebook page to say how fast and effective the service was.
Chick-fil-A is planning to launch drone delivery at a few other locations as the company tests out the effectiveness of it, although the company is yet to announce where. This is the latest way Chick-fil-A has experimented with new technology to deliver orders – the company has previously tested autonomous delivery vehicles.
