Papa Johns Is Getting Into Drone Delivery—but Not for Pizza
From today, looking forward Customers of American pizza chain Papa Johns living in a corner of southern North Carolina will have the opportunity to have their food delivered from the sky, thanks to a new collaboration with Alphabet’s drone company Wing. But Papa Johns’ signature pizzas won’t be offered. Instead, drone-loving North Carolinians will have to choose between three types of sandwiches, a newer product for the fast-food chain: the Philly cheese steak, chicken and bacon ranch, or steak and mushroom varieties.
Drone deliveries are appearing in more and more communities across the United States and around the world. Questions about the long-term economics and regulation of unmanned aerial vehicles persist, but Wing has partnerships with Walmart, Panera and DoorDash and delivers by sky to customers in four metro areas: Atlanta, Charlotte, Dallas-Fort Worth and Houston. (In 2019, Wing received the first certificate from the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration authorizing a drone delivery company to operate in the country.) Competing drone companies, including Zipline, Amazon Prime Air and Flytrex, transport packages, medical supplies and Chipotle burritos to select communities in countries including Ghana, Japan and the United States.
But until very recently, drone operators struggled to fly life-size pizzas. For companies hoping to break into the food delivery business, that’s unfortunate: 11 percent of the U.S. population eats a slice every day, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture. In a rapidly diversifying restaurant industry, getting them to customers remains an important business. But the realities of physics, engineering and food service combine to make pizza a challenge for drones.
Flying pizzas
Traditionally, pizza has been the experimental technology delivery of choice. The familiar, cheap cheese-sauce-bread combo was loaded onto self-driving cars and autonomous curbside delivery vehicles and assembled by robots. It’s a quick and satisfying option, especially for busy, time-strapped families. And in theory, it’s a great fit for automated drones, one of the fastest delivery options: people love hot, fresh pizza.
But transporting one by drone requires additional work, says Adam Woodworth, CEO of Wing. “The pizza comes in a very different box, with a large flat surface,” he says. They are not naturally aerodynamic. Also, “you don’t want a pizza to be tilted.”
Wing’s relatively lightweight drones are designed to carry three specific package sizes: right now, pizza boxes aren’t one of them. Woodworth says a new design is on the horizon. “I want to see pizza coming from the sky,” he says.
Flytrex, an Israeli-based drone delivery company, announced late last month that it had finally resolved the problem. Working with rival pizza chain Little Caesars, the company began delivering up to two large pizzas (16 inches each), as well as soda and bread, by drone to Wylie, Texas, a suburb of Dallas. The jump is thanks to a new, much larger drone capable of carrying up to 8.8 pounds four miles.
Courtesy of Flytrex
