Food Delivery Soars High in the Sky

In recent years, food delivery service—mainly from third-party providers—is on an upsurge. By 2020, the National Restaurant Association predicts that 70% of customers will be ordering food outside the restaurant premises. The rising number of delivery options is pushing this increase. These include new food delivery providers, mobile apps, and online ordering systems.

Are drones ready to deliver our food? Is it time to forget about heavy traffic, great distance, dilapidated roads, and the like? With today’s generation of food delivery firms, late deliveries can virtually be a thing of the past. In the near future, online restaurant orders will be delivered through delivery vehicle sharing, autonomous vehicles, or drones. Several tests have been made, and many are on the works.

Drone delivery offers its biggest advantages over other options—speed and cost. On average, cars need 10 to 30 minutes to deliver food. Drone delivery only takes 5 to 10 minutes, or a 500% increase in volume for restaurants. Third-party services typically charge restaurants 15%-30% in delivery fees. Drones will likely charge lower rates.