An inside look at drone-based food conveyance in Finland.

The weather in Finland is famously harsh, but that doesn’t mean a drone can’t deliver your food order.

Finnish entrepreneur Ville Leppälä gave TechCrunch a behind-the-scenes look at a three-way partnership between Manna, the Irish drone delivery business, Wolt, the DoorDash-owned food delivery platform, and his own startup, Huuva, on a rainy day following Helsinki’s yearly Slush conference.

Huuva, which translates to kitchen hood, secured a seed round headed by General Catalyst in 2022 with the goal of delivering high-quality cuisine to the suburbs. Although it has grown beyond its cloud kitchen roots, its operations still rely heavily on delivery technology, which now includes drones.

“If possible, we’ll use a drone to deliver your order.” That is how Wolt has been informing customers who purchase from Huuva’s Niittari location in Espoo, which is part of the Helsinki metropolitan region but which Leppälä believes is particularly suited to this concept.

Following Manna’s success in completing over 50,000 deliveries in Dublin, operations in Finland began quickly after the necessary licenses were obtained. The drones have been completely operational in Espoo for the past two months, after a pilot phase beginning in February, and they depart from a launchpad shared with the delivery-only grocery store Wolt Market.

For end users, this implies they may purchase various cuisine types from Huuva’s partner brands and add groceries; each drone can carry roughly 4.4 pounds, and Manna can dispatch two at once. 

This improves not only convenience but also speed. Drones, unlike drivers, will not be delayed in traffic during lunchtime. According to Leppälä, this is critical for ensuring that the food arrives fresh, and it also helps if unit economics are more sustainable for Huuva. 

Huuva’s team estimates that regular deliveries now cost €5-6 each (about $6-8), but drone deliveries could cost as little as €1 ($1.16). That excludes any additional expenses Manna may be incurring as a result of establishing its Finnish operations, even though the weather was not as difficult as it might have been for a newcomer.

Manna’s drones, which came from Ireland, had already been thoroughly tested for wind and rain, in such large quantities that snow is also included. According to local operations and maintenance lead Makar Nalimov, icing provides an additional problem, but in such instances, they will simply employ other delivery methods, especially because using chemicals for de-icing is not an option when food is involved.

These fallback options emphasize that Manna’s drones are only one of a growing number of last-mile delivery options. Wolt already employs sidewalk robots from Coco and Starship in Finland, and its parent firm, DoorDash, even created its own, Dot, which began delivering in Arizona earlier this year.

Amid speculations that DoorDash may be developing its own drone delivery program in addition to partnering with Alphabet’s Wing, direct partnerships could benefit firms such as Manna and Huuva. The food startup is considering expanding to another Espoo location where Wolt Market would not be involved, allowing the launchpad to be close enough to the kitchen for deliveries to be handed over via a window.

Manna’s launchpad is currently located within a short distance; delivery personnel on e-scooters pick up the orders from the kitchen in a heat bag and transport them to Manna’s operators. They weigh the orders and balance the weight if necessary before placing them into special bags approved by regulators, under the supervision of maintenance lead Nalimov.

Resistant bags are just one of several safety precautions Manna takes to comply with regulations and its own policies. Batteries, for example, are routinely changed out so that drones always fly with a full charge. According to Nalimov, there is also redundancy at all levels, as well as preparedness for various incident scenarios, and a parachute as a last resort.

Although Manna has personnel on the ground, Mission Control is based in Ireland. Operators there assess the LiDAR maps, review the planned flight itinerary, and drop a pin for the drone to deliver within a short radius of the customer’s location. If the conditions are not met, the order is returned to a courier. If authorized, the drone takes a snapshot of the landing spot for final human confirmation before lowering the package with biodegradable rope. 

This procedure has become routine for Manna’s local employees, who are becoming increasingly busy. According to Nalimov, he and his team are currently handling double-digit deliveries per day and are confidently preparing for their first operational winter in Finland. Huuva, for one, is now ready to increase drone deliveries in Espoo, with one additional wish: to be able to put its logo on those regulator-approved bags.