Restaurant Uses Mini Helicopter To Deliver Food To Tables

The iTray at work at the Yo! Sushi in London.

The iTray at work at the Yo! Sushi in London.

In what could be a breakthrough in foodservice technology or one of the most ill-advised ideas ever, a restaurant in London has begun using a miniature helicopter to bring food to customers’ tables.

The iTray won’t be replacing waitstaff anytime soon, as it actually requires a human being to operate the device via iPad, which is probably a bigger hassle than having to simply walk the food out to the diner.

“It’s really fun for customers,” one waitress tells the Daily Mail [via Eater]. “I hope we can get to the point where we can serve guests from the central kitchen as it would definitely help to cut down the time walking around the restaurant.”

It’s currently being tried at the Yo! Sushi eatery in London’s Soho district, but the chain says it could be rolled out to all 64 Yo! branches, assuming it doesn’t decapitate or otherwise dismember customers in the meantime.

If the system were truly automated, that might be cool, though we imagine it’s inevitable that any number of diners walking headfirst into a flying tray of food. So we’re fine with old-fashioned, living, breathing waitstaff that don’t fly at top speeds of 25 mph.

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