Seattle-based Pagliacci Pizza is taking to the sky.
On Wednesday, the pizza chain announced it is partnering with drone company Zipline to offer drone delivery in the future. Pagliacci co-owner Matt Galvin said the decision helps the chain continue its sustainability efforts, which already include composting and buying electric delivery vehicles.
"The drone is another component to reducing our carbon emissions," Galvin said. "It's a really compelling business case. We have this idea of a multi-pronged strategy of going to market."
The partnership with San Francisco-based Zipline will eventually allow customers to select drone delivery on certain orders, he said, and the service will work alongside current options like in-store pickup, car and bike delivery. Galvin added that only about a third of Pagliacci's orders would fit into the current drone-size confines, as the rest would be too large. The drones could also help Pagliacci make more deliveries during peak hours and even offer smaller lunch orders.
Galvin said Pagliacci and Zipline have about 12 to 18 months of work ahead of them before his business can start testing in one location, after which it can roll it our more broadly. In a perfect world, Galvin envisions the drone service being available in roughly seven to nine stores four years from now. Pagliacci has not picked the first pilot location, but it will depend permits and the best location to get feedback from customers.
The chosen location will need to have a docking station to charge and load the drones. Zipline will need approvals from the Federal Aviation Administration. The company gained approval last year from the FAA to operate in the U.S. and currently operates in Arkansas, Utah and North Carolina. Pagliacci is also refining the packaging it will use to fit orders in the drones.
Zipline was founded in 2014, according to its LinkedIn page. The company has partnerships with Walmart and Intermountain Healthcare in Utah. Zipline is also planning to launch delivery with the health food chain Sweetgreen, and Tacoma-based MultiCare Health System will use Zipline for delivery between its hospitals starting next year.
Zipline says its drones can go up to 70 miles per hour, produce 97% fewer emissions than traditional delivery and don't make much noise. The drones fly over 300 feet above ground and lower the delivery to the ground via a tether. They have a 10-mile service radius, or they can travel up to 24 miles dock-to-dock. Zipline is backed by Sequoia and Andreessen Horowitz.
Pagliacci was founded in 1979, and Galvin and his partner bought it in 2000. The chain has over 20 locations within the Seattle area. According to Galvin, a big part of making the drone deliveries work is designing a pizza box that can fit in the drone. The boxes can only be about 8 inches wide instead of 17 (a more standard size), and the final design to fit all the requirements is still in the works.
"We have a longstanding relationship with a local pizza box maker, and they're helping work on the design," Galvin said. "It's kind of a fun, unique new problem."
