Food Delivery Industry Enters Intense Competition! Meituan Delivery Trials Drone Delivery to Ensure Coffee Quality

Shanghai Residents Spot Coffee "Flying" Across the Sky Today

Oh... it turns out it was a drone carrying coffee and delivering it to a customer!

On November 26, the 3rd East China UAV Base Innovation and Development Forum opened in Jinshan District, Shanghai, where participants discussed East China UAV airport planning and the industrial applications of UAV swarm intelligence. The forum highlighted that UAV services are playing an increasingly important role in emergency management, urban operations, and logistics transportation.

As demand for food and beverage delivery keeps growing, and with delivery speed, quality, and rider safety all in play, the base plans to gradually build a low-altitude UAV delivery network over the next three years. The first route serving real users will be set up in Jinshan District to create a 15-minute urban last-mile delivery circle, with trials scheduled to begin in the first half of 2022.

Shanghai: The City With the Most Coffee Shops in the World

Analysis shows that as of January 2021, Shanghai had 6,913 coffee shops, more than any other city in the world. Partnering with the Meituan app, the UAV base aims to make it possible for this coffee-loving city to have coffee delivered within 3 kilometers in just 15 minutes by drone.

According to Mao Yilian, who heads Meituan's UAV business, coffee was chosen as the trial target simply because Shanghai residents love coffee so much. Yet few coffee shops are willing to offer delivery, and very few people order it. The main reason is concern about how efficiently manual couriers can work, and about how the bumps of the road affect the flavor, taste, and overall quality of the coffee, which could end up damaging a brand's reputation.

With drones, costs would not rise, while delivery efficiency would nearly double that of manual delivery. Because the aircraft flies through the air, its route also involves fewer bumps, better protecting the coffee's quality in transit. That brings more and better choices to Shanghai residents' tables, and lets technology deliver a higher-quality consumer experience.

How Drone Delivery Works

UAV delivery capacity is now integrated into the Meituan delivery app, where it coordinates with delivery riders to provide service. When customers choose UAV delivery while ordering, they can see the route. The handover is contactless: after an order is placed, the drone follows the system-planned route to carry the food from the restaurant to a designated outdoor delivery station in the community, where the customer scans a QR code with a phone to open the locker and collect the order. Future plans also include adding robot pickup and indoor delivery stations.

During the rollout, Meituan's UAV delivery service will carry no delivery fee. Some netizens, however, have pointed out that since drones cut costs without adding any, a group of manual couriers will inevitably be displaced. The whole point of delivery, they argue, is the convenience of door-to-door service, whereas drone delivery requires customers to travel to specific pickup and drop-off points, which arguably turns human service into a luxury.

What do you all think about this issue?

Image source: Network

FrontStreet Coffee Recommendation

A drone can protect a cup from the bumps of the road, but the flavor still comes down to the beans you brew, and fresh, well-sourced coffee is the best place to start. For anyone building an entry-level specialty lineup, FrontStreet's Ethiopia range is a natural first stop: the sun-dried Huakui from Sidamo carries distinct tropical-fruit aromas with berry, floral, jackfruit, melon, and honey notes, while the washed Gududing Cooperative of Yirgacheffe is a classic Yirgacheffe expression of jasmine, lemon-like acidity, and berry tones.

If you prefer a softer, sweeter daily cup, FrontStreet's Brazil Cerrado Red Bourbon is an easygoing single origin from the well-known Cerrado region, with creamy, peanut, and cocoa notes and a gentle, balanced body. Step up to the FrontStreet Queen Estate, grown at a higher altitude from the rare yellow Bourbon variety, and you get buttery, sunflower-seed, macadamia, and almond aromas layered with a sugarcane-like sweetness, smooth whether brewed on its own or paired with milk.