News

Pickup Pods offer food delivery solution for apartment, office dwellers

March 20, 2020

As restaurants increasingly move toward contactless and other forms of food delivery, the makers of an IoT-enabled system for doing just that, called Pickup Pods, is highlighting the relevance of its product in a no-touch/low-touch world. 

Seattle, Washington-based, Minnow said the pods provide people in residential buildings, workplaces and other businesses with a no-contact way to manage food deliveries and pickups as so-called "social distancing" needs grow to prevent spread of COVID-19. 

Though no-contact delivery is offered by many third-party delivery platforms and brands, it can be tough to execute in multi-family residences, large workplaces and other areas where leaving orders unattended in public areas may end up resulting in the customer receiving damaged or missing orders as the frequency of this action increases, the company said in a news release. 

Each pod requires under three square feet of floor space and can be installed anywhere with access to a standard 120V electrical outlet and access to a Wi-Fi or cellular network. Each pod has insulated cubbies and requires no integration with food delivery apps, tenant experience platforms or restaurant point-of-sale systems.

Consumers retrieve food by tapping a hyperlink in a text message on their smartphone to open cubby doors automatically.