Behind the curtain: How food is delivered by drones in Finland

Drone-Powered Food Delivery Takes Off in Finland

Finland is known for its challenging weather, yet even the harshest conditions can’t stop your meal from arriving by drone.

Following Helsinki’s annual Slush conference, Finnish entrepreneur Ville Leppälä offered TechCrunch an exclusive look at a collaboration between Irish drone delivery company Manna, food delivery platform Wolt (owned by DoorDash), and his own venture, Huuva.

Huuva—named after the Finnish word for “kitchen hood”—secured seed funding from General Catalyst in 2022, aiming to bring high-quality food to suburban neighborhoods. While the company has evolved beyond its original cloud kitchen model, its operations still depend heavily on advanced delivery technologies, now including drones.

Customers ordering from Huuva’s Niittari branch in Espoo, a city within the Helsinki metropolitan area, have been receiving notifications from Wolt: “If available, we’ll send your order with a drone.” Leppälä believes Espoo is an ideal testing ground for this innovative approach.

Expanding Food Choices in the Suburbs

Although European suburbs aren’t as spread out as those in the U.S., residents and workers in places like Espoo often lack the dining variety found in the capital. Huuva addresses this by offering popular dishes from partner restaurants, and drone delivery ensures these meals arrive quickly, according to Leppälä.

Building on Manna’s experience with over 50,000 successful deliveries in Dublin, the Finnish operation launched swiftly after obtaining the necessary permits. Following a pilot phase in February, drones have been fully operational in Espoo for the past two months, taking off from a launchpad shared with the delivery-only Wolt Market grocery store.

For customers, this means they can mix and match meals from Huuva’s restaurant partners and add groceries to their order. Each drone can transport about 4.4 pounds, and Manna can dispatch two drones simultaneously.

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Speed and Efficiency in Delivery

This approach not only adds convenience but also significantly reduces delivery times. Unlike traditional drivers, drones avoid traffic congestion, especially during busy lunch hours. Leppälä notes that this is crucial for ensuring food arrives hot and fresh, and it also helps Huuva maintain more sustainable delivery costs.

Currently, standard deliveries cost Huuva around €5-6 (roughly $6-8) per order, while drone deliveries could potentially lower that to €1 ($1.16). These figures don’t include the additional expenses Manna faces in setting up its Finnish operations, though the local weather has proven less problematic than anticipated.

Manna’s drones, originally developed in Ireland, have already been tested in severe wind and rain—conditions common enough that snow is treated similarly. Icing, however, presents a unique challenge. According to Makar Nalimov, who oversees local operations and maintenance, alternative delivery methods are used during icy conditions, as de-icing chemicals are not an option for food transport.

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Integrating Multiple Delivery Technologies

These backup solutions highlight that Manna’s drones are just one part of a rapidly growing ecosystem of last-mile delivery options. Wolt is already deploying sidewalk robots from Coco and Starship in Finland, while its parent company DoorDash has developed its own robot, Dot, which began deliveries in Arizona earlier this year.

With speculation that DoorDash may be developing its own drone delivery service—alongside partnerships with Alphabet’s Wing—direct collaborations could benefit companies like Manna and Huuva. Huuva is also considering expanding to another Espoo location, where the drone launchpad could be positioned close enough to the kitchen for direct handoffs through a window, eliminating the need for Wolt Market’s involvement.

How the Drone Delivery Process Works

Currently, Manna’s launchpad is located nearby. Delivery staff use e-scooters to collect orders from the kitchen, keeping them warm in insulated bags, and then hand them over to Manna’s team. Under Nalimov’s supervision, the orders are weighed and balanced before being placed into special regulator-approved bags.

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These durable bags are just one of many safety protocols Manna follows. Drones always fly with fully charged batteries, which are routinely swapped. Nalimov explains that there are multiple layers of redundancy and contingency plans for various scenarios—including a parachute system as a last resort.

While Manna maintains a local team on the ground, its Mission Control is based in Ireland. There, operators review LiDAR maps, plan flight routes, and select precise delivery points near customers. If conditions aren’t suitable, the order defaults to a courier. If approved, the drone photographs the landing area for final human verification before lowering the package using biodegradable rope.

Scaling Up for the Future

This workflow has become standard for Manna’s Finnish team, which is now handling dozens of deliveries daily and preparing for their first full winter of operations. Huuva, meanwhile, is eager to further expand drone deliveries in Espoo—and hopes to soon display its branding on the officially approved delivery bags.