• Home
  • Latest
  • Fortune 500
  • Finance
  • Tech
  • Leadership
  • Lifestyle
  • Rankings
  • Multimedia
TechDrone

7-Eleven Just Used a Drone to Deliver a Chicken Sandwich and Slurpees

By
Jonathan Vanian
Jonathan Vanian
Down Arrow Button Icon
By
Jonathan Vanian
Jonathan Vanian
Down Arrow Button Icon
July 22, 2016, 4:21 PM ET
7-Eleven's delivery drone.
7-Eleven's delivery drone. Flirtey

A 7-Eleven customer’s order for Slurpees, a chicken sandwich, donuts, hot coffee, and candy will forever go down in history.

What makes it remarkable is that the convenience store chain used a drone to deliver the order to a family in Reno, Nev., 7-Eleven said on Friday. The company partnered with drone startup Flirtey for the delivery, which the companies said was the first time a drone has legally delivered a package to a U.S. resident who placed an order from a retailer.

But the drone delivery wasn’t a casual affair.

Get Data Sheet, Fortune’s technology newsletter.

“This delivery required special flight planning, risk analysis, and detailed flight procedures ensuring residential safety and privacy were equally integrated,” Chris Walach, the director of operations for the Nevada Institute for Autonomous Systems (NIAS), said in a statement. The NIAS is a Nevada government-backed non-profit autonomous vehicle advocacy group that helped oversee the delivery.

It took two drone flights to deliver all of the items ordered, the companies said. The drone flew autonomously for one mile from the 7-Eleven store in Reno on July 11 to the family’s house using GPS.

After the drone reached the house, it hovered above while lowering the container to the family’s backyard using a rope.

“The convenience of having access to instant, 24/7 drone delivery is priceless,” said the delivery’s recipient Michael, who did not share his last name in the corporate statement. “It’s amazing that a flying robot just delivered us food and drinks in a matter of minutes.”

7-Eleven said it plans to work with Flirtey on future drone deliveries, but it did not say when it would roll out a broader drone delivery program for all of its stores.

Many companies, like Amazon (AMZN) and Google (GOOG), are exploring using drones for delivering packages. But strict Federal Aviation Administration drone regulations, they say, have pushed them to do a lot of the testing overseas in countries like the Netherlands and Canada.

Although the FAA recently released new commercial drone rules that take effect in August, the rules still don’t allow for flying drones at night or outside the line of sight of their operators. Both restrictions could have a huge impact on whether drone deliveries are practical.

For more about drones, watch:

In March, Flirtey made the first federally-sanctioned autonomous drone delivery in a U.S. urban area to an abandoned home in Hawthorne, Nev. The startup also used a drone to deliver medical supplies in rural Virginia last summer, which led to the drone being displayed at the Smithsonian’s National Air and Space Museum.

The state of Nevada is one of six FAA drone-testing sites in the U.S. where universities, companies, and government agencies can more easily test drone services and related technologies.

About the Author
By Jonathan Vanian
LinkedIn iconTwitter icon

Jonathan Vanian is a former Fortune reporter. He covered business technology, cybersecurity, artificial intelligence, data privacy, and other topics.

See full bioRight Arrow Button Icon

Latest in Tech

Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025

Most Popular

Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Rankings
  • 100 Best Companies
  • Fortune 500
  • Global 500
  • Fortune 500 Europe
  • Most Powerful Women
  • Future 50
  • World’s Most Admired Companies
  • See All Rankings
Sections
  • Finance
  • Leadership
  • Success
  • Tech
  • Asia
  • Europe
  • Environment
  • Fortune Crypto
  • Health
  • Retail
  • Lifestyle
  • Politics
  • Newsletters
  • Magazine
  • Features
  • Commentary
  • Mpw
  • CEO Initiative
  • Conferences
  • Personal Finance
  • Education
Customer Support
  • Frequently Asked Questions
  • Customer Service Portal
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms Of Use
  • Single Issues For Purchase
  • International Print
Commercial Services
  • Advertising
  • Fortune Brand Studio
  • Fortune Analytics
  • Fortune Conferences
  • Business Development
About Us
  • About Us
  • Editorial Calendar
  • Press Center
  • Work At Fortune
  • Diversity And Inclusion
  • Terms And Conditions
  • Site Map
  • Facebook icon
  • Twitter icon
  • LinkedIn icon
  • Instagram icon
  • Pinterest icon

Most Popular

placeholder alt text
Commentary
Yes, you're getting a bigger tax refund. Your kids won't thank you for the $3 trillion it's adding to the deficit
By Daniel BunnJanuary 26, 2026
2 days ago
placeholder alt text
Success
Despite running $75 billion automaker General Motors, CEO Mary Barra still responds to ‘every single letter’ she gets by hand
By Preston ForeJanuary 26, 2026
1 day ago
placeholder alt text
Economy
An unusual Fed ‘rate check’ triggered a free fall in the U.S. dollar and investors are fleeing into gold
By Jim EdwardsJanuary 26, 2026
2 days ago
placeholder alt text
Personal Finance
Current price of silver as of Monday, January 26, 2026
By Joseph HostetlerJanuary 26, 2026
2 days ago
placeholder alt text
Personal Finance
Current price of silver as of Tuesday, January 27, 2026
By Joseph HostetlerJanuary 27, 2026
14 hours ago
placeholder alt text
Success
'The Bermuda Triangle of Talent': 27-year-old Oxford grad turned down McKinsey and Morgan Stanley to find out why Gen Z’s smartest keep selling out
By Eva RoytburgJanuary 25, 2026
2 days ago

© 2026 Fortune Media IP Limited. All Rights Reserved. Use of this site constitutes acceptance of our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy | CA Notice at Collection and Privacy Notice | Do Not Sell/Share My Personal Information
FORTUNE is a trademark of Fortune Media IP Limited, registered in the U.S. and other countries. FORTUNE may receive compensation for some links to products and services on this website. Offers may be subject to change without notice.


Latest in Tech

Photo of Elon Musk
Big TechX
New filings exposing Elon Musk’s financials for X in the U.K. show revenue plummeted 58% in 2024
By Lily Mae LazarusJanuary 27, 2026
5 hours ago
People walk outside of a WeWork office building in London.
Future of WorkOffice Culture
Amazon and JPMorgan led the Fortune 500 in returning to the office 5 days a week. Now they’re leading a coworking comeback
By Jacqueline MunisJanuary 27, 2026
6 hours ago
Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei
AIEye on AI
At Davos, CEOs said AI isn’t coming for jobs as fast as Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei thinks
By Jeremy KahnJanuary 27, 2026
6 hours ago
Corning CEO Wendell Weeks.
AIData centers
A Meta deal just turned this 175-year-old company into a linchpin of the AI data center boom
By Sharon GoldmanJanuary 27, 2026
7 hours ago
Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei
AIDario Amodei
Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei’s 20,000-word essay on how AI ‘will test’ humanity is a must-read—but more for his remedies than his warnings
By Jeremy KahnJanuary 27, 2026
9 hours ago
trump
CybersecuritySocial Media
The White House vows ‘the memes will continue,’ but misinformation experts say please, make it stop
By Kaitlyn Huamani and The Associated PressJanuary 27, 2026
10 hours ago