With the Covid-19 pandemic affecting every facet of our lives our daily routines have changed and everyone is trying to adapt to a new normal. Thankfully, not even the covid pandemic can stop our spooky traditions such as trick or treating. While this season we must all remember to practice safe social distancing, food companies have come up with some innovative solutions that will ensure we can still enjoy some Halloween treats.

Reese’s brand Trick-or-Treat Door has been the festive solution we have all been waiting for, you might have seen it around some US neighborhoods handing out their delicious products in a way that is both responsible for the current pandemic and adheres to social distancing measures. Using a motor-powered door and built-in Bluetooth speaker, Reeses candy bars appear through a mail slot from a retractable shelf.

And its not only big companies that are leveraging cutting-edge robotics to deliver food to consumers’ doors. We´ve pooled some examples of just a few of the promising foodtech startups that were bold enough to profit from the Covid-19 global crisis and come up with innovative solutions to build new ways of consumption.

Human-free contactless delivery is taking its next step thanks to a partnership between pizza-making vending machine creators Piestro and food delivery robot inventors Kiwibot. The combination of these two companies has created the perfect match for safe food production and delivery, constituting in an outstandingly valuable resource for food service players and restaurants.

This new collaboration is all about robots. When Piestros robot-powered machine comes to market there will be an integrated mechanism that will allow Kiwibots to take the pizzas from the machine and deliver them directly to consumers doors.

With the global pandemic helping to power technologies that allow for safer and more transparent food production, this concept is the perfect way to ensure zero human interaction from start to finish.

Nuro is taking this concept to an even bigger level, making use of self-driven vehicles that directly deliver not only food to consumers doors but also packages and groceries etc. This original American startup raised a whopping $92 million back in 2018 for the development of these high-tech vehicles, supported by key investors such as Bayan Capital. This year it becomes closer to full-blown commercialisation as its been given permission to operate its driverless vehicles on Californian soil.

The vehicles are pod-like automation-powered machines which are around half the size of a normal car and can travel up to 25mph.

This human-less means of food delivery is the perfect contribution to a covid reality with people now more likely to order food online than make physical trips to the grocery store. There has been a massive spike in direct-to-comsumer platforms throughout the pandemic, back in June online sales in the UK surged to over 5.3 billion pounds. 

Are we witnessing a trend that will change food consumption forever? Or is it just a temporary solution that will soon fade after the global pandemic is over? What do you think? Let’s keep the debate going in the comments!