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Restaurants

Pizza Hut to test drone delivery to 'landing zones'

Drones add 7,000 households to Israeli Pizza Hut location's delivery area, report says

By James Leggate Fox News
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Pizza Hut is reaching new heights with its latest delivery experiment.

Tech company Dragontail Systems Limited announced this week that it has deployed drones for restaurants to carry meals to delivery drivers in remote landing zones.

Those drones will be flying pizzas from a Pizza Hut location in northern Israel starting in June, The Wall Street Journal reported.

Drones will fly pizzas from a Pizza Hut location in northern Israel starting in June. (iStock)

Drones will fly pizzas from a Pizza Hut location in northern Israel starting in June. (iStock)

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Current weight limits will restrict deliveries to about 5.5 lbs., or two pizzas and a bottle of soda, according to the report. But Pizza Hut is hoping to increase the weight limit by the time drone deliveries begin in June.

The drones won’t deliver pizzas directly to customers’ homes. Instead, they will meet delivery drivers at government-approved landing zones like specific spaces in a parking lot within a 50-square-mile area, according to the report. The delivery drivers will still carry the pizza for the final leg of the trip.

With increased demand for meal delivery amid the COVID-19 pandemic, the drones could prove to be "vital to the current crisis impacting the restaurant industry," according to Ido Levanon, CEO and director of Dragontail.

Tech company Dragontail Systems Limited announced this week that it has deployed drones for restaurants to carry meals to delivery drivers in remote landing zones.

Tech company Dragontail Systems Limited announced this week that it has deployed drones for restaurants to carry meals to delivery drivers in remote landing zones. (iStock)

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"Our drone deliveries provide restaurants and delivery drivers an opportunity to reach an extended customer base while doing so in a safe and cost-effective manner," Levanon said in a written statement.

Dragontail said it has also worked with food chains like KFC and Domino's to "optimize" ordering and delivery processes. 

The company’s drone dispatching system can deploy drones in an optimized manner to help orders reach customers while the food is still hot. And dispatchers can monitor the exact location of each drone.

The company’s drone dispatching system can deploy drones in an optimized manner to help orders reach customers while the food is still hot.

The company’s drone dispatching system can deploy drones in an optimized manner to help orders reach customers while the food is still hot. (iStock)

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Flying the drones to meet delivery drivers takes fewer drones and requires less battery charging, the Journal reported. This will add about 7,000 households to the restaurant’s delivery area.

Before the Pizza Hut pilot program begins in June, Dragontail will be flying six test flights per day in the area, according to the report.

This won’t be the first time a drone has been employed to deliver pizza, but it could be the first time drones are rolled out in a delivery project of this scope. A Domino’s location in New Zealand used a drone to deliver pizzas in 2016, but the chain has not continued to offer that service.