We’ll drop that food out to you .... quite literally!
SEEING your Friday night takeaway descend from the skies will soon become the new normal.
For the past few weeks, residents of Dublin’s Blanchardstown have got used to seeing unmanned aircraft whizzing about carrying hot coffee and snacks.
But now, Irish company Manna has teamed up with burrito chain Boojum and pledges to deliver food from many more local restaurants in the coming weeks.
Its founder, Bobby Healy, said his plan is to extend the service all over Ireland by the end of the year.
He told the Irish Daily Mail: ‘The response has been fantastic. You can see videos of the drones being posted on social media with local residents all coming out of their homes to see a delivery taking place.
‘Once the food is prepared by the restaurant, our flight time takes less than three minutes to arrive at a location, still piping hot.
‘In Blanchardstown we have a total of 15 aircrafts and they’ll be able to do between 500 and 1,000 flights per day.
‘And by the end of the year, we’ll have about 200 to 300 drones operating across the country,’ he added.
Manna began its delivery service in Moneygall, Co. Offaly, three years ago.
Since then, it has tested its operations in places such as Oranmore, Co. Galway, and Balbriggan, north Dublin.
The drones now cater for approximately 145,000 customers in the Blanchardstown and Castleknock area of the capital. It also has a drone delivery service in Texas.
Mr Healy acknowledged that not everyone is happy with the drones. He said: ‘There are a handful of people who don’t like the drones but that’s fine and we respect them. If they do complain we mark their houses and just bypass them. However, in our three-and-a-half years in operation, we’ve only had about 20 complaints.’
Asked how he can ensure that his fleet is not targeted by vandals or thieves, the entrepreneur replied: ‘The drone cruises at about 60 metres above ground and they don’t actually land when they make a delivery.
‘Instead, they winch the delivery down so it’s impossible for anyone to get close to the drone. We’ve never had an aircraft damaged by a member of the public.’
‘They winch the delivery down’