Announced at the UP.Summit, starting in 2025, Zipline will deliver sandwiches, salads and more from Mendocino Farms in select locations. With Zipline drone delivery, fans of Mendocino Farms will soon “Eat Happy” from home with fast, convenient delivery that keeps take-out just as tasty as dine-in.
Mendocino Farms is known for creating a warm, welcoming and positive experience for guests; but maintaining an elevated experience for delivery customers is tricky. As restaurant owners know, it’s far too common today for someone to order a favorite meal, only for it to arrive cold and late, despite having a premium delivery cost. No matter how carefully chefs craft a dish, a few wrong turns or a bad traffic jam can jeopardize the quality and customer experience.
Zipline designed its P2 system to solve this problem for partners like Mendocino Farms. With Zipline, guests will place their favorite order and track its progress in real-time on their phone. Once the kitchen loads the order, the P2 Zip will take off and fly to their home hassle-free, with no traffic or disruptions. Just a few minutes later (under 10 minutes for deliveries 10 miles away), the Zip will arrive at its destination and hover safely and quietly high up in the sky, while its fully autonomous droid descends on a tether, steers to the correct location, and gently drops off its package to an area as small as a patio table or the front steps of a home. Moments later the Zip is gone, and it’s time to eat.
Guests can rest easy knowing that this partnership not only creates a better delivery experience, but is also better for the environment. With most meals only weighing a few pounds, it’s far more efficient to use lightweight, fully-electric drones to deliver salads and sandwiches than a 3,000 pound car. Based on Zipline’s analysis, each flight today creates up to 97% fewer emissions than traditional delivery services, with zero tailpipe pollution.
“There’s a lot of work that happens between when a guest orders their food and when they take that first delicious bite. By working with Zipline, we’re making it faster and more convenient to Eat Happy wherever you are,” says Kevin Miles, CEO of Mendocino Farms. “Zipline delivery provides an exceptional, sustainable experience we’re thrilled to bring to our guests.”
To enable this service, select Mendocino Farms stores will add Zipline docks which allow team members to load orders without leaving their station. Zipline’s team worked closely alongside the restaurants to learn and understand workflows and build an efficient system that works seamlessly in even the busiest kitchens. The system is more convenient for staff than a drive-thru window and requires less training.
Digitally, Mendocino Farms will take advantage of Zipline’s APIs to integrate the service into their existing ordering channels and POS system, enabling easy online ordering, real-time order and trend tracking, and workflows that make sense for their team. This means minimal training for team members, while giving their team a complete picture of their delivery operations.
In choosing to use Platform 2, Mendocino Farms joins other Zipline partners including sweetgreen, GNC, Cleveland Clinic, Michigan Medicine, OhioHealth, MultiCare Health Systems, Intermountain Health, Pagliacci Pizza and more.