El Pollo Loco have partnered with Flytrex to launch the pilot. Credit: asoggetti on Unsplash.

US-based fire-grilled chicken restaurant chain El Pollo Loco is ready to test door-to-backyard drone delivery service in the country.

El Pollo Loco said that the Air Loco drone testing programme will start from 24 June.

El Pollo Loco president and CEO Bernard Acoca said: “We’re highly encouraged by the evolution of our digital flywheel and continued enhancement of the strategies we put in place last year.

“We look forward to further growth on the heels of our record-breaking 250% increase in delivery performance in 2020.”

The restaurant chain has partnered with Israeli-based drone startup company Flytrex to launch the pilot.

Flytrex manufactures and operates automated drones, which use a wire release mechanism to gently lower food orders from 80ft.

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The Air Loco drone will feature a fastened delivery box to keep orders intact.

With this initiative, El Pollo Loco will become the first national restaurant company to test drone delivery services in the US.

El Pollo Loco digital vice-president Andy Rebhun said: “El Pollo Loco continues to explore new and innovative delivery services that offer our customers added quality and convenience, and the Air Loco drone delivery pilot programme is our latest effort to unlock fresh options for getting our fire-grilled chicken to hungry customers everywhere – piping hot and in perfect condition.

“We want to offer drone food deliveries that are fast, convenient and safe. The insights gleaned during this test-and-learn pilot will play a crucial role in helping us shape this exciting new service ahead of its rollout.”

In a similar move, Indian food delivery platform Swiggy and its partner Anra Technologies have also received clearance from various authorities in India to begin trials for drone food delivery.