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Matternet is partnering with Dave’s Hot Chicken to launch a drone delivery pilot in Northridge, a Los Angeles suburb, marking the fast-casual chain’s first foray into aerial food delivery.

Eligible residents will be able to order Dave’s Hot Chicken through the Dave’s app and receive it directly to their homes via Matternet’s autonomous M2 drones. The move positions Dave’s as one of the first national fast-casual brands to test drone delivery at scale.

“Each day, more than 10 million food deliveries move through our cities in 2-ton cars, adding traffic and pollution,” Matternet founder and CEO Andreas Raptopoulos said in a prepared statement. He said he envisions drones replacing millions of those trips, delivering meals faster and cleaner.

Building on Silicon Valley success

The partnership builds on Matternet’s home delivery service in Silicon Valley, which has been operating since October 2024. I actually tried out that Silicon Valley service myself back in November, driving down to Mountain View to watch chocolate get delivered by drone to my location. The experience was impressive — the M2 drone overs about 23 feet above ground and lowers packages via a tether system rather than landing.

For this delivery service, orders will be prepared at Dave’s Northridge Reseda location and delivered to approved homes in Northridge. The service area will likely start small, similar to how Matternet’s Silicon Valley operations began with a limited radius.

Why the Dave’s partnership matters

Dave’s Hot Chicken was founded in 2017 by three childhood friends who scraped together $900 to launch in a parking lot with portable fryers and folding tables. The chain has expanded to more than 300 locations and was recently acquired by private equity firm Roark Capital in a deal valued at $1 billion.

For Matternet, expanding from healthcare logistics into food delivery represents a major strategic shift. The company has achieved many industry firsts, including being the first to be authorized for commercial Beyond Visual Line of Sight (BVLOS) drone delivery operations over cities in Switzerland, the first to launch routine revenue-generating operations in the U.S., and the first to achieve standard Type Certification and Production Certification by the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration.

The Matternet M2 remains the only FAA Type Certified drone delivery platform in the U.S. — a rigorous designation that gives the company a significant competitive advantage.

The growing restaurant drone delivery trend

Dave’s Hot Chicken joins a growing list of restaurants testing drone delivery. Other chains including Sweetgreen, Panera Bread, Chick-fil-A, Jersey Mike’s, and Wendy’s have partnered with drone delivery companies like Zipline, Flytrex, Wing and DroneUp.

Restaurants are attracted to drone delivery for several reasons: off-premise business has grown since the pandemic, drones typically offer lower energy consumption per package than other vehicles, and it generates publicity as customers are more likely to post videos of drone deliveries on social media.

Yet consumer perception remains nuanced, with a 2024 study finding that 74% of respondents saw value in drone delivery for medical supplies in remote areas, but only 63% considered it valuable in urban areas. Food delivery falls somewhere in between — convenient enough to be useful, novel enough to generate interest.

For Dave’s Hot Chicken, this represents an opportunity to differentiate itself in an increasingly competitive fast-casual market.

“Innovation is part of our DNA at Dave’s Hot Chicken,” said Leon Davoyan, the company’s Chief Technology Officer, in a prepared statement.

Based on what I’ve seen in the drone delivery space, expect more restaurant partnerships to follow if this pilot proves successful. The infrastructure is ready. The question is whether America’s appetite for drone-delivered hot chicken matches its appetite for the dish itself.

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