Dave’s Hot Chicken (#453 on Entrepreneur‘s 2025 Franchise 500) is testing a new way to get its Nashville-style tenders into customers’ hands — by flying them there. According to Nation’s Restaurant News (NRN), the fast-growing fast-casual chain has partnered with drone logistics company Matternet to launch a pilot program in Los Angeles. The test will use autonomous drones to deliver orders from a specific Dave’s location to approved homes in the nearby L.A. neighborhood of Northridge.

“Innovation is part of our DNA at Dave’s Hot Chicken,” chief technology officer Leon Davoyan told NRN. “By using drones, we’re delivering our food in a way that takes it straight from the kitchen to our loyal customers’ hands.”

Related: Considering franchise ownership? Get started now to find your personalized list of franchises that match your lifestyle, interests and budget.

Orders will be prepared in-store and transported via Matternet’s M2 drone system, which can carry small packages over short distances. For now, only select customers within a tightly controlled area will be eligible to participate and all drone orders will be placed through the Dave’s Hot Chicken app. The companies did not disclose how long the program will run.

Matternet sees the pilot as part of a larger movement to make food delivery faster and more sustainable. “Each day, millions of food deliveries move through our cities in two-ton cars, adding traffic and pollution,” Matternet CEO Andreas Raptopoulos said, according to NRN. “Drones can replace millions of those trips — delivering meals faster, cleaner and with less environmental impact.”

Related: These Are the Top Franchise Suppliers of 2025

The rollout remains limited for now, serving more as a proof-of-concept than a full-fledged operational shift. Still, the move puts Dave’s Hot Chicken among a growing list of restaurant brands testing drone technology.

Drone delivery has long been touted as the next frontier in convenience, but it’s complex to execute. Several major restaurant brands have experimented with drone delivery, though the efforts remain limited to small-scale pilots. These programs, which included industry heavyweights like Chipotle, Wendy’s and Jersey Mike’s, highlight a growing interest among fast-casual and quick-service brands in using drones to solve the “last mile” delivery challenge — offering speed and novelty, but still limited by regulation, cost and infrastructure hurdles. Other challenges include regulatory approval, weather limitations and ensuring safety in densely populated areas.

For Dave’s, the experiment aligns with the brand’s rapid-growth, innovation-first mindset. Whether the drones stick around or remain a novelty remains to be seen — but for now, Dave’s Hot Chicken is betting that the future of delivery is about to take flight.

Related: I Walked Away From a Corporate Career to Start My Own Small Business — Here’s Why You Should Do the Same