Over 130 million autonomous miles is more than an amusing figure in the context of a taco-run idea. Taco Bueno, a regional Mexican restaurant chain with restaurants in Texas and Arkansas, has partnered with the aviation-grade delivery company Zipline to start delivery via drones from its location on North Beach Street in Watauga. Customers within a three-mile radius of the restaurant can place their order via the Zipline application and have the food delivered by drones that hover above their house before descending to deliver it on the ground. Although Zipline’s choice of such a restaurant sounds surprising, it actually means the start of using the technologies created for aviation-grade transportation in the realm of restaurant logistics.
Indeed, Zipline was originally established to deliver medical supplies using autonomous drones, and it later shifted its business model toward logistics. Today, the company has made over 130 million autonomous miles delivering medical, food, and other consumer goods. Moreover, its latest solution, Platform 2, was developed for suburban and urban residential delivery, with drones hovering above destinations and delivering their payload on a tether. It is essential to understand the significance of such developments.
Delivery by drone always seemed like something taken from the future. However, making drones a reliable alternative to conventional food delivery services requires addressing many issues, including airspace regulation, advanced drop systems, weather tolerance, etc. While Zipline’s U.S. operation benefited from permission to fly autonomously provided by the FAA, all delivery services have been actively working towards beyond-visual-line-of-sight (BVLOS) flying capabilities. By 2025, Flytrex became the fourth company to get permission to fly autonomously within FAA guidelines. Moreover, having such permission allows companies to minimize their human presence during operations, thereby reducing the cost of such activities and enabling them to scale the business to another level.
Although Taco Bueno has emphasized customer experience in the process, its decision is significant mainly from the point of view of the delivery model used. “The drone-delivery partnership with Zipline is just one more example of the work we are doing to combine the heritage of Taco Bueno with innovations across products, service, technology, and customer experience,” said Dani Perales, Director of Marketing and Innovation of Taco Bueno.
However, this innovation is crucial since, according to Zipline, many of its customers receive their food or other supplies in less than 30 minutes, and the weight limit of the company’s new drone, Platform 2, is eight pounds within a 10-mile range. It makes Zipline’s drone a suitable tool for delivering restaurant meals, prescriptions, and even other consumer goods. At the moment, Zipline works with Taco Bueno on expanding its drone-delivery network by opening its offices in Mesquite and Frisco, with the company planning to open further locations by the end of 2026.