Papa Johns Starts Drone Deliveries in North Carolina With 3 Sandwiches as Pizza Packaging Still Lags
Updated
Updated · Fox News · May 18
Papa Johns Starts Drone Deliveries in North Carolina With 3 Sandwiches as Pizza Packaging Still Lags
4 articles · Updated · Fox News · May 18
Indian Trail, North Carolina, is hosting Papa Johns' first drone-delivery test with Alphabet-owned Wing, letting eligible customers order three Oven Toasted Sandwiches through the Wing app.
Sandwiches came first because drone payload and stability limits make pizza boxes harder to fly; the companies are developing custom aerodynamic packaging for future pizza deliveries.
Wing called it its first direct partnership with a national restaurant brand, and Papa Johns said the longer-term plan is to add drone delivery to its own app and Google Cloud-powered ordering tools.
The test remains tightly local near Sun Valley Commons, underscoring how drone delivery still faces weather, regulatory, staffing and unit-economics hurdles before broader rollout.
As rivals airdrop entire pizzas, is Papa Johns' sandwich-first drone strategy a brilliant move or a major competitive miscalculation?
Will AI-powered drone delivery ultimately make fast food cheaper for everyone, or just create a new premium service for the few?