MANNAFEAST
Drone firm starts delivering fast food to your door
FAST food is being taken to new heights from today in West Dublin as Manna launches its new drone delivery service for nearly 150,000 customers.
Punters within a 4km radius of food outlets close to Blanchardstown Shopping Centre will now be able to receive their coffee and fast food orders within three minutes via a drone.
The drone, which weighs 23kg including the cargo, is described by Manna CEO and founder Bobby Healy as “the size of a golden retriever dog with propellers,” and will operate from 8am to 9pm Friday to Sunday and 4pm to 9pm on weekdays.
“And customers needn’t worry as they won’t need to tip their drones nor will the drones eat their food on the way to their homes,” Bobby quipped.
However, the cost of having food delivered to you by a drone on the Manna app is €4.99.
Linking up with Boojum Mexican fast food chain in Blanchardstown as one of its first clients, Manna made a trial delivery recently in less than three minutes to a home 4km away in Castleknock where couple Dermot and Rachel Malone and their seven-monthold daughter Mila ordered burritos.
The burritos and a can of Coke were delivered to their back garden by the drone, which hovered overhead while lowering the package down via a string.
The drone then cut the string when the package was safely on the ground.
“It’s very cool,” said Dermot. “We like to do our own cooking but we like to treat ourselves to a delivery and this delivery service makes the decision very easy.”
He added: “It’s great to get my Boojum within three minutes so it’s very appealing. It feels like future, Space Odyssey stuff.”
The drones, which can operate in lashing rain and up to 40km winds, are fitted with parachutes so if something goes wrong the flying object is brought to the ground safely. Bobby also insisted that there is “zero chance of a drone hitting someone”.
And no harm has come or will come to seagulls or other birds flying around, according to the Manna boss, who added: “Seagulls have no interest in the drones because they know the drones are not a threat or a danger to them.”
And as the drones only fly to heights of up to 60 metres, there will be no interference with flight paths over the Dublin area.
From today, four drones will officially operate from a car park site in Blanchardstown Shopping Centre and are capable of 300 to 400 deliveries a day reaching nearly 150,000 households.
Bobby highlighted the convenience of being able to order food via drones, referring to a man in Oranmore in Galway who ordered one onion.
He said: “He was making a steak dinner, he didn’t have an onion so he ordered an onion to be delivered by the drone.
“And four minutes later the onion was in his back garden.”
During the past few weeks Manna has been trialling the drones, with plenty of footage emerging on social media by excited customers and people curious to see the gadgets in motion.
And Bobby continued: “We have done about 500 deliveries here in Blanchardstown over the past few weeks and the footage emerging on social media is terrific.
“One person had their fast food delivered on their trampoline – that was my favourite video – and we had one person who put a Tiktok video up of a delivery to their back garden, that has already had two million views. The whole world is watching this.
“We have 5,500 customers who have the Manna app and are now waiting to order, so it’s very exciting,” said Bobby.
See www.manna.aero/blanch for more information about the fast food drone deliveries in Blanchardstown.