Starting in January 2027, some Dallas takeout orders will not be coming by car at all. Wonder, the company that owns Grubhub and operates a national network of multi-brand foodhalls, says it will launch drone-powered food delivery in the city, using aircraft from Zipline and routing meals from its own foodhall kitchens instead of individual restaurants.
The company outlined the timing and its local rollout plan in a recent release, saying drone deliveries will go live at most of a small set of new Dallas locations, with additional Texas foodhalls adding airborne service through 2027, according to The Dallas Morning News. Company materials and trade coverage indicate Wonder is designing both storefronts and back-of-house kitchens specifically to receive, pack, and hand off orders for drone flights.
Speed is the main selling point. Wonder North America CEO Tony Hoggett has said the company believes getting food to customers faster helps keep meals closer to restaurant quality, a point picked up in national coverage. Investing.com reported that the first Dallas flights will be part of a broader Texas expansion scheduled to start next year.
How the drones will work
Under the plan, staff inside each Wonder foodhall will prepare the order, pack it, and load it into a Zipline dropbox. From there, a Zipline aircraft will carry the package and lower it to the customer’s doorstep using a tethered system. Nation's Restaurant News lays out that workflow and notes that customers will be able to request drone delivery through the Wonder app, with Zipline’s own app expected to offer the option later on.
Why Dallas is an early testbed
Dallas-Fort Worth already has a reputation as friendly airspace for commercial drones, with multiple programs operating in the region and Zipline among the companies active in the market. That existing footprint makes the metro area a logical proving ground for Wonder’s foodhall approach to drone delivery.
Tech coverage earlier this year highlighted Zipline’s expansion in the United States and the buildout of its Platform-2 delivery network, the same technology Wonder plans to use across its Texas operations. TechCrunch detailed Zipline’s growing Dallas-area presence and its roster of existing partners.
Wonder also comes to Dallas with some drone flight time already logged. Grubhub and Wonder ran a three-month pilot program in Green Brook, New Jersey, this spring, using Dexa aircraft and testing aerial delivery in the U.S. Northeast. The New Jersey initiative was announced in a Grubhub news release that spelled out a roughly 2.5-mile service radius and a set of operational safeguards, according to PR Newswire.
The Dallas launch also lands at a busy moment for Wonder’s broader strategy. The company has been piecing together a wider mealtime platform through acquisitions, including its 2024 deal for Grubhub and other transactions, and is preparing for a potential IPO as soon as 2027, Investing.com has reported.
For now, Wonder is keeping some details close. The company has not released specific Dallas addresses or a neighborhood-by-neighborhood rollout map, and those particulars are expected to surface through company spokespeople and local filings as the January 2027 launch window gets closer. What is clear is that Dallas is on track to be among the next U.S. cities where a dinner order might skip traffic altogether and arrive straight from the sky.
