Food on the Fly is the first iOS app-based mobile food delivery service behind airport security. It allows advanced ordering and tracks flights, making adjustments to delivery times and locations for you. Here is our recent interview with Chad Cummings and Kylie Guthrie, managing partners at Food on the Fly:
Q: What is your startup story?
A: We have been friends for nearly 10 years and in that time, our shared love of travelling has taken us to every corner of the globe. As frequent travelers, we’ve spent hundreds of hours in airports, and often lamented at the lack of quality food available within easy walking distance, or within airline clubs. After dining in the III Forks, a local steakhouse, at DFW during a particularly long flight delay, we both contemplated how great it would be if we could have high quality food during tight connections, or while killing time in the Admiral’s Club before a flight. Food on the Fly was born from us seeing the need for a delivery based solution in airports. As airports worldwide push to provide better experiences for customers, and airlines continually reschedule for tighter connections, there is a void left. There are plenty of quality options, but customers have no time. Food on the Fly aims to fill that void.
Q: How would you describe Food on the Fly?
A: Food on the Fly is the first iOS app-based mobile food delivery service behind airport security. Essentially, our team delivers food from quality food vendors already in the airport to any conceivable location within the airport. We allow advanced ordering, and track flights, making adjustments to delivery times and locations for you.
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Q: Your order management system tracks customers’ flights to harmonize delivery times with arrivals and departures, tell us something more?
A: We know travel is stressful, as we’ve spent years travelling for leisure and business. We aim to alleviate the stress of find food in the airport. We believe that getting a quality, fresh, hot meal in the airport should be easy, convenient and fast, and to that end we’ve created an app with solutions to meet every customers’ needs.
If you’ve got time to kill, but don’t want to lug your baggage through the terminals, or are craving something other than the snacks and minimal offerings in a lounge, order for immediate delivery. You’ll tell us your flight information and we will show you all the restaurants we can deliver from with the time you’ve got before you board your flight.
If you know you’re going to be pressed for time, or have a tight connection and won’t be able to eat at your destination, simply order up to 3 weeks in advance. We will track your flight and deliver to your departure gate, arrival gate or any other location at the time you specify. If your flight changes gates, we’ll notify you and meet you at the new location, fresh meal in hand.
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Q: What was the most challenging part of developing it?
A: Airline travel supplies an almost endless stream of unknowns, and the logistics of operating in an airport setting is more difficult than a standard delivery service. To bridge this gap, we’ve spent considerable time and money in developing advanced analytics and logic that allows us to accurately estimate delivery times and adapt to these uncontrollable factors. Combining logistics with a strong customer service team, we can weather any storm (no pun intended).
Q: What is your main goal at the moment and when do you plan to launch Food on the Fly?
A: Right now we are focused on completing development of our native app in preparation for launch at our first airport in December. There are a lot of moving pieces and with a team of two, that means long hours and lots of overtime. We will open our first round of funding soon to facilitate a rapid expansion, so that we can be in an airport near you as soon as possible.
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Q: What differentiates Food on the Fly from other app-based ordering in airports?
A: Presently, there is only one ordering service operating in the airport space. Food on the Fly sets itself apart by being a fully comprehensive, airport-wide solution. Instead of being bound by a couple vendors, or to a single concessions group, Food on the Fly operates on the airport level, allowing us to serve a wider range of needs with a single solution. No one else offers flight-based advanced ordering; Food on the Fly will be the first. We’ve put considerable consideration into the features that our customers need, and to that end we’ve created a service that ebbs and flows with the ongoing changes that inevitably pain travelers.
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