'Innovating with delivery': Chick-fil-A testing drone delivery at a 'small number' of locations

If you're a resident of Brandon, Florida, chances are your next chicken sandwich from Chick-fil-A could fly to you.

The Brandon/Valrico Chick-fil-A location in the Tampa Bay area is now offering customers free delivery via drones, the restaurant announced on its Facebook page Monday.

"Drone delivery is now here at Chick-fil-A E. Brandon/Valrico only!," wrote the franchise on Facebook. "For a limited time, order Chick-fil-A Delivery and enjoy a $0 delivery fee."

To use the new delivery option, customers are requested to select “Chick-fil-A Delivery” when placing an order on the app. While the restaurant did not specify the drone's delivery radius in the post, they said that that delivery distance is limited.

Delivery via drone has limited hours of operation, available only from Monday through Friday from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., said Chick-fil-A.

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Behind the scenes

In a separate post on Facebook, the restaurant gave a behind the scenes look into the delivery operation.

After an order is placed on the app, employees at the Chick-fil-A load the order into a white box, which is then attached to a drone and sent to the delivery location. When the drone arrives at the destination, it lowers the box onto the ground, where the customer receives it.

'Innovating with delivery'

Chick-fil-A, in a statement to USA TODAY, said that they are currently "innovating with delivery".

“Chick-fil-A is always exploring new ways to provide the best experience for our guests," said the fast-food restaurant chain. "We are in the early stages of testing drone delivery at a small number of Chick-fil-A restaurants."

However, Chick-fil-A did not specify which locations the drone deliveries are being tested at.

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Saman Shafiq is a trending news reporter for USA TODAY. Reach her at sshafiq@gannett.com and follow her on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter @saman_shafiq7.