Drone-to-door takeaways ‘in next five years’
● The mode of delivery could be ‘more sustainable’ in the long term
Forget deliver y riders – drones has been tipped to take over when it comes to bringing food orders to customers’ doors.
Market researchers NPD Group have predicted dr ones will be delivering breakfast, lunch and dinner orders within five years amid a sharp rise in takeaway requests.
Dr ones are set to deliver breakfast, lunch and dinner to consumers’ doors within five years, experts have predicted.
A report from market researchers NPD Group said that drones are more sustainable than some other forms of transport and could work just as well in rural locations as cities – while the number of people opting for takeaway food for breakfast and lunch is also on the rise.
It found that the deliver y of food orders in the UK is the industry’ s fastest-growing channel and its extensive use of technology means it is also the most innovative.
Meanwhile, the number of takeaway deliveries of breakfast is up by 86 per cent and lunch by 99 percent since 2015, it added.
There were 755 million delivery visits in the year to Decemb er 2018, an increase of 210 million or 39 p er cent compared to three years earlier.
In contrast, total visit figures for the British out-of-home or eat-out food service industry grew just 2 per cent between 2015 and 2018, pea king at 11.35 billion visits in 2017 and declining by - 0.5 per cent in 2018, a loss of 60 million visits.
NPD said delivery increased its share of Britain’ s food service industry from five per cent of visits in 2015 to seven per cent in 2018 and could be worth £6.3 billion by 2021.
Dr one delivery has been trialled in some countries by companies such as Amazon, but has so far not been used in food delivery. Take away delivery firmUb er eats has previously hinted at creating a drone service in the US.
Dominic All port, insights director of foodservice at NPD, said :“There’ s much more innovation to come from the delivery channel. Consumers will love the novelty value of receiving their food order via drones. As soon as British food service operators get a viable and authorized drone delivery platform, they’ll offer it to the public for appropriate foods in selected markets.”
Meanwhile, a separate rep or t published by Kantar found that diners are increasingly trading down from full service restaurants to flexible options.
The study said there were almost five million fewer trips to full service restaurants in the most recent 12 weeks, with diners reluctant to splash out on premium meals.
However, cafes and coffee shops have enjoyed growth of 8 per cent over the same period, while out of home coffee sales grew by 5 per cent in the past year.
Some may doubt we’ll be having our breakfast delivered by drone within five years. But just think of the pace of technological change in recent times. Some of us are still getting used to the idea that ipods, which seemed futuristic not that long ago, are now decidedly old-fashioned.
If it’s possible to predict something, it’s probably going to happen – an aphorism that might not actually be wise, but may at least give the appearance of wisdom. People will probably forget if it doesn’t happen in the end. So, prepare to tuck into Those Magnificent Eggs in Their
Flying Machines or some such. The Scotsman already has its napkin on.
But – there’s always a but – if there’s one thing we know about the wonders of future technology is that there is usually a hitch. TVS that require a PHD to program, computers that crash at just the wrong moment etc.
Have our culinary drone pioneers considered the skills of the humble seagull, for example? We may also need to prepare for a difficult argument over our new holographic telephone about a drone that left the kitchen fully laden with goodies but arrived picked entirely clean.