Drone start-up brings hot food delivery to Scandinavian islands

Meal delivery is a convenience city dwellers take for granted, but options are now emerging for island residents in Scandinavia.

Norwegian start-up Aviant has launched the region’s first drone-based food delivery service, starting on the Swedish island of Värmdö, just outside Stockholm. With a permanent population of around 46,000, Värmdö has long lacked hot food delivery options, BBC writes. 

Since February, residents of Gustavsberg and surrounding areas have been able to order burgers from Scandinavian chain Bastard Burgers via drone. Deliveries cost about the same as car or bike services, but without the expense of a driver. Aviant currently delivers around 10 items a week while testing the system, with plans to expand later this year.

Co-founder and CEO Lars Erik Fagernæs, based in Trondheim, says the potential market is significant:

"As you can see on the map, there are 87,000 people who don't have access to a home delivery service. These people live in what you would call suburbs, and would want to order takeaway food, but they just don't have an option."

Aviant is also preparing to launch on Nesodden, a peninsula near Oslo where about 100,000 residents lack delivery services. The drones can cover up to six miles in around 10 minutes, and the company has developed insulated containers to keep food hot.

"In the beginning, there were a lot of soggy fries," Mr Fagernæs admits. "But we have improved the isolated container the burger goes in, and now we know it arrives warm, even in the winter months."

He hopes Värmdö and Nesodden will provide a model for wider expansion:

"We don't have huge cities, but these areas are viable for drone delivery, where they are on the border of urban with rural, which is very hard to serve by car."

Aviant has identified 40 potential sites across Scandinavia for expansion, with Canada and the northeastern US also seen as promising markets. Weather remains a challenge, though the company expects 90% uptime despite wind disruptions.

Elsewhere, drone meal delivery trials in Europe and Asia have struggled to be commercially viable without government or corporate backing. UK firm Skyports, which runs a drone mail service in the Orkneys, has explored adapting the same drones for food delivery.

"There are models where you have an anchor customer who's underwriting that core cost, then you can incrementally bolt on new commercial opportunities to bring in additional revenue," Skyports director Alex Brown says. 

He notes the UK’s stricter aviation rules make entry harder than in Europe or Asia, but sees progress.

"It is getting easier, and to give the UK government credit, they are making good progress."

By Sabina Mammadli