Kroger to Provide Grocery Delivery by Drone

Written By Warehouse Automation

Not to be outdone by Amazon and Walmart, The Kroger Co. has teamed with Drone Express, part of TELEGRID Technologies, for a pilot involving grocery delivery via autonomous drones.

Kroger Co. is diving into drone delivery, starting a pilot at a store near its Cincinnati headquarters.

The supermarket chain is partnering with Drone Express, a unit of Telegrid Technologies, to deliver groceries from a store in Centerville, Ohio, later this spring, the companies said in a statement Monday. The technology allows for deliveries of up to five pounds to customers’ homes or wherever they may be, enabling cookout supplies to be sent directly to a park in as little as 15 minutes, the companies said.

They plan to expand the test to an additional store in California this summer.

“We can enable Kroger customers to send chicken soup to a sick friend or get fast delivery of olive oil if they run out while cooking dinner,” Beth Flippo, Telegrid’s chief technology officer, said in the statement.

“We can enable Kroger customers to send chicken soup to a sick friend or get fast delivery of olive oil if they run out while cooking dinner.”
— Quote SourcBeth Flippo, Telegrid’s chief technology officer

Kroger noted the drones in its pilot program will be able to deliver groceries in as little as 15 minutes. They’ll zero in on consumers’ smartphones and bring the delivery to wherever they’re located — including a park, beach or backyard located within the drone’s flight range.  

The drones will be able to deliver up to 5 pounds of groceries, which puts the focus on small orders. Kroger said it will curate product bundles meeting the weight limit with options like a “S'mores bundle” with graham crackers, marshmallows and chocolate; a child wellness bundle with over-the-counter medication and fluids; and a baby care bundle with formula and wipes. Drone Express licensed pilots will manage the flights from an on-site trailer, and the tech firm said it will provide additional off-site monitoring.  

Established in 2018, Drone Express is a subsidiary of Telegrid, which has provided tactical communications equipment to the U.S. military and is one of 10 companies pre-approved by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) to achieve airworthiness consideration for its DE-2020 unmanned aircraft.

The program marks Kroger’s speediest delivery offering yet at a time when many consumers want their groceries to get to them faster. Other retailers like Amazon, Walmart and Rouses Markets have begun piloting drone deliveries, putting pressure on Kroger to get involved. Walmart has filed numerous drone patents and is currently testing delivery in three states with separate drone companies while Amazon Prime Air last year got approval from the FAA to test drone delivery.

Kroger follows rival Walmart Inc., which has several drone tests underway. Last September, the world’s biggest retailer announced plans to use drones from Israeli startup Flytrex to make deliveries in Fayetteville, North Carolina. Walmart is also testing using drones to drop Covid-19 diagnostic kits to customers in two markets, and has teamed with a company called Zipline to deliver health and wellness products to shoppers near its Arkansas headquarters.

While drone delivery promises to reduce labor and fuel costs to make e-commerce fulfillment more profitable, hurdles such as weather, privacy and insurance remain sticking points. To date, United Parcel Service Inc., Alphabet Inc.’s Wing and Amazon.com Inc.’s Prime Air remain the only Federal Aviation Administration-sanctioned drone delivery operators.

Drone Express’s robots are part of a program by the FAA called Beyond, which aims to bring private companies and state and local governments together to develop drone use in areas like small-package delivery and infrastructure inspection.

Drug chain Walgreens Boots Alliance Inc., which has partnered with Kroger on merchandising and purchasing initiatives, began testing deliveries using Wing drones in 2019.

Kroger commence à tester les livraisons par drone pour les produits pour bébés et les s’mores 

Company Press Release 5/3/2021

The Kroger Co. (NYSE: KR) and Drone Express, a division of TELEGRID Technologies, Inc., today announced a pilot to offer grocery delivery via autonomous drones, expanding the retailer's seamless ecosystem and providing customers with anything, anytime, anywhere.

"Kroger's new drone delivery pilot is part of the evolution of our rapidly growing and innovative e-commerce business – which includes pickup, delivery, and ship and reached more than $10 billion in sales in 2020," said Kroger's Jody Kalmbach, group vice president of product experience. "The pilot reinforces the importance of flexibility and immediacy to customers, powered by modern, cost-effective, and efficient last-mile solutions. We're excited to test drone delivery and gain insights that will inform expansion plans as well as future customer solutions."

How the Drone Grocery Delivery Pilot Works

The pilot will offer customers unparalleled flexibility as Drone Express technology allows package delivery to the location of a customer's smartphone not only to a street address, simply meaning a customer will be able to order delivery of picnic supplies to a park, sunscreen to the beach, or condiments to a backyard cookout, for instance.

Kroger is designing bundled product offerings ideal for meeting customer needs within the current weight limits for drone delivery, which is about five pounds. As an illustration, Kroger will offer a baby care bundle with wipes and formula, a child wellness bundle with over-the-counter medications and fluids, and a S'mores bundle with graham crackers, marshmallows, and chocolate. Using Kroger.com/DroneDelivery, customers can place orders and have eligible orders delivered within as little as 15 minutes.

"Autonomous drones have unlimited potential to improve everyday life, and our technology opens the way to safe, secure, environmentally friendly deliveries for Kroger customers," said Beth Flippo, Chief Technology Officer, TELEGRID. "The possibilities for customers are endless – we can enable Kroger customers to send chicken soup to a sick friend or get fast delivery of olive oil if they run out while cooking dinner."

Drone Express will commence test flights this week near the Kroger Marketplace in Centerville, Ohio (1095 South Main Street). The flights will be managed by licensed Drone Express pilots from an on-site trailer with additional off-site monitoring. Customer deliveries are scheduled to begin later this spring, and a second pilot is scheduled to launch this summer at a Ralphs store in California.

"The launch of the pilot in Centerville is the culmination of months of meticulous research and development by Kroger and Drone Express to better serve and meet the needs of our customers," said Ethan Grob, Kroger's director of last mile strategy and product. "We look forward to progressing from test flights to customer deliveries this spring, introducing one more way for our customers to experience Kroger."

"Kroger and Drone Express made a great choice in piloting this program in Centerville – a community with a robust business network focused on progress and stability near the birthplace of aviation," said Centerville Mayor Brooks Compton. "Families here have the power to transform grocery delivery around the nation and the globe. We look forward to placing our first order."

About Kroger

At The Kroger Co. (NYSE: KR), we are dedicated to our Purpose: to Feed the Human Spirit™. We are nearly half a million associates who serve over nine million customers daily through a seamless digital shopping experience and 2,800 retail food stores under a variety of banner names, serving America through food inspiration and uplift, and creating #ZeroHungerZeroWaste communities by 2025. To learn more about us, visit our newsroom and investor relations site.

About TELEGRID

Headquartered in New Jersey, TELEGRID Technologies, Inc. is a woman-owned small business founded in 1984 with a focus on providing cutting-edge technologies, including communications and networking equipment and systems for U.S. military and government agencies. In 2018, the company founded Drone Express to integrate its state-of-the-art, military-grade wireless mesh network with advanced drone technologies. Drone Express, which uses only American-made parts in its drones, currently has operations in California, New Jersey, and Ohio. TELEGRID is currently one of only 10 companies pre-approved by the FAA to achieve airworthiness consideration for its DE-2020 unmanned aircraft.

A division of TELEGRID Technologies, Drone Express is a logistics firm that works with companies to strategically integrate drone delivery into supply chains and service offerings. The company recently established a facility in the southwest Ohio community of Monroe as a hub for manufacturing, testing, and piloting of autonomous drones for commercial package delivery.

Drone Express grew out TELEGRID's extensive experience with the U. S. Department of Defense, which gave the company the proven success necessary to work with the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) on the certification process. TELEGRID is currently one of only 10 companies pre-approved by the FAA to achieve airworthiness consideration for its DE-2020 unmanned aircraft. The company is also exploring ways to expand the range of drone deliveries Beyond Visual Line of Sight (BVLOS) as part of the FAA's BEYOND program through lead participant the Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma. For more information, visit www.telegrid.com. For more information on Drone Express and its commercial drone delivery offering, visit https://droneexpress.ai/.

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