QSR June 2023

SHORT ORDER

Customers want convenience any way they can get it, including from the sky. Flytrex, a drone delivery service that partners with retailers and restaurants to bring items directly to diners’ yards, caters to more than 140,000 subur ban customers across Texas and North Carolina. It’s partnered with some of the bigger names in quick service, including Jersey Mike’s, Charleys Philly Steaks, and El Pollo Loco. In late March, Flytrex released its 2022 Yardstick, a report detail ing customer trends. The data highlights volume, types of items delivered, fastest times, and more.

• Average Time from Takeoff to Delivery: 3 MINUTES AND 32 SECONDS

• Favorite foods: SALADS AND SANDWICHES • Top three dishes: FRIES, TURKEY SANDWICHES, AND BURRITO BOWLS

STATISTICS TO KNOW: Flytrex delivered 85,000-plus items by drone across 21,350 orders in 2022. The average time from takeoff to delivery was 3 minutes and 32 seconds, and the fastest time from order to delivery was 12 minutes and 13 seconds. Flytrex experienced its busiest day on October 14, when it witnessed one order every five minutes. The company had more than 4,000 unique users in 2022, a 765 per cent increase year-over-year. QUIRKY NOTES: One consumer placed 532 drone orders in 2022. Another scheduled eight deliveries in one day. A third guest ordered coffee 81 times throughout the year. Some other odd orders include: five types of Girl Scout cookies, 12 types of macarons, four dozen large eggs, and four pints of ice cream. The largest order delivered was three tomato soups and one noodle soup, two cobb salads with chicken, two BLTs, and two-and-a-half cheese sandwiches.

CUSTOMER INTEREST: Guests’ favorite food groups were sandwiches and salads, accounting for nearly one-fifth (19.8 percent) of all orders. Chicken and wings were sec ond at 18.5 percent. That was followed by Mexican food (12 percent), burgers (11.7 percent), retail and grocery (8 percent), coffee, tea, and snacks (7.2 per cent), Asian food (5.5 percent), and pizza (5.2 percent). An “other” category represented 12.2 percent.

The top grocery items ordered were fresh produce (36.3 percent), dairy and eggs (9.2 percent), pantry (8.7 percent), sweets and snacks (8.3 percent), frozen goods (7.7 percent), beverages (6.8 percent), bread and bakery (5.1 percent), refrigerated goods (3.7 percent), and meat and seafood (3.5 percent). The “other” category accounted for 10.7 percent. The top three dishes via the Flytrex app were fries, turkey sandwiches, and burrito bowls , and the top three packaged items deliv ered were bananas, sports drinks, and milk.

COMMENTARY: “ The drone delivery industry as a whole has progressed immensely over the past year, and this snapshot is a testament to its soaring future,” said Yariv Bash, CEO and cofounder of Flytrex, in a statement. “We strive to provide the utmost convenience and satisfaction to everyone who uses our service, and we’re thrilled to see that our customers are as delighted and excited about drone delivery as we are. Building on this momentum, we look forward to expanding our service and eventually providing the same level of quality practicality across suburban America.”

ADOBE STOCK / CREATIVETEAM

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JUNE 2023 | QSR | www.qsrmagazine.com