Drone delivery service coming to Katy

All right, 542 now, and you know, drone delivery, it is expanding all across the country, right? And it is expanding here in the Houston area as well, specifically Katy, after the city council there approved the site for a new hub for a company called Zipline. Karis Belger joining us now in Cyprus to explain how this all works. Karis. Yeah, Anthony, I'm right near one of Zipline's other hubs here in Cyprus. It's a pretty active here. It's around that time, dinner hour for folks. And the drones behind me have just been going and going on and off throughout the afternoon. And so Zipline handles deliveries for participating restaurants and retailers. They really started in Dallas and then expanded to Houston last year. And now they are hoping to expand in the area, as they are now going to do with that vote with the Katy City Council. This new hub is going to get more customers their order. So Monday, Katy City Council approved a zoning change for the new site, which will be behind the shopping center at Katy Freeway, just near the Buc-ee's north of I-10. Now, the West 10 Businesses Park site would have six towers, similar to what you're seeing right now behind me, that would have all of these drones ready to accommodate all the businesses that would be having people order their food. So customers would order from participating businesses through the zip line app. The company says it's drones to carry up to eight pounds, lowering a delivery pod while staying more than 300 feet overhead. And Jesus Lee, he's the manager of Adrian's Mexican street food. I spoke with him earlier today. He said that he was eager to get involved in this when somebody from zip line approached him at his Cypress store location. He was born and raised in Katy. He said he asked the company about expanding there and he says that He says that this has really helped with his business. He gets about 15 to 20 orders just at the Katy location, using the drone technology every week. Whenever I first lined up with Zipline, I asked them about expansion for here in Katy because I am born and raised here in Katy. So I was excited and I wanted my community to be a part of this as well. I can't even believe that we are in the age where drone deliveries for food and other services is like a thing. Like it's just normal behavior at this point. But let's talk about that KD Hub, Karis. How soon can we see that thing open up? It could take three to six months. The permitting all has to get started and that could take a while, but the land has already been designated. The businesses that will participate to the new hub have not been confirmed just yet. I will say my photographer and I drove over to that location early in the day. There are at least six restaurants in that immediate shopping center, which means it would be pretty easy for someone to order through zip line and have their food delivered by drone. And I want to mention some of the businesses just behind me. You see there's Cali and Tojos. There's Bambaleo. There's a lot of different restaurants behind this hub next to me. We've seen people ordering from, or rather, we've seen orders for using these drones come through the entire afternoon. So just to give you an idea of how much people are using the technology already. They deliver within a three-mile radius, I'm told, by the company. And that could expand with this new hub in Katy. All right, Karis Belger, thank you so much.