It\u2019s a bird. It\u2019s a plane. It\u2019s a sleigh. No, it\u2019s actually \u2013 a drone carrying mistletoe? That\u2019s right. You don\u2019t have to ask Santa for new glasses this Christmas because you read that sentence correctly. Fortunately, there\u2019s no need to contact the Federal Aviation Association (FAA) because these drones are staying indoors; more specifically inside a handful of TGI Friday\u2019s locations worldwide.<\/p>\n
The Carrollton, TX-based restaurant company piloted (pun intended) this technologically interactive program in the United Kingdom after conducting a survey with over 2,000 Britons that produced surprising results about UK\u2019s lack of Christmas smooches. According to the survey, 47% of the British population have never been kissed under the mistletoe even though 27% of those surveyed plan to lock lips under the festive plant this year. Hoping to take advantage of what 42% of the people surveyed considered to be \u201cone of the most romantic times of the year,\u201d TGI Friday\u2019s released the drones to the public.<\/p>\n
Steered by skilled and trained restaurant drone operators, these \u201cMobile Mistletoe\u201d drones come in two sizes: the 10-inch, four-bladed drone and the much larger 23-inch, six-bladed version. The drone\u2019s weight starts at about 1kg (roughly 2.2 lbs.) and can fly up to speeds of 35 mph. Hovering about 8 feet above unsuspecting couples, each drone is equipped with a fully operational HD camera, also known as the \u201ckiss cam,\u201d that can film a bird\u2019s-eye view of every special moment for up to 20 minutes at a time.<\/p>\n
The drones are not only to encourage people to \u201cget a little closer at this romantic time of the year,\u201d according to TGI Friday\u2019s spokeswoman, Rachel Waller, but are a way to lure customers into its locations. TGI Friday\u2019s surveyed that the average American, in the U.S., only goes out to dinner 74 times a year, which explains why casual dining restaurants have been hurting. To ease the pain, TGI Fridays is in the midst of refranchising, renovating its locations, and revamping its menu.<\/p>\n
TGI Friday\u2019s rewards every couple that shares a smooch under the mistletoe-carrying drone with gift cards. On the other hand, if you\u2019re not caught kissing under the drone, the restaurant chain announced plans to reward random couples who post their mistletoe-kisses on social media with the hashtag #HappyFridayHoliday.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
It\u2019s a bird. It\u2019s a plane. It\u2019s a sleigh. No, it\u2019s actually \u2013 a drone carrying mistletoe? That\u2019s right. You don\u2019t have to ask Santa for new glasses this Christmas because you read that sentence correctly. Fortunately, there\u2019s no need to contact the Federal Aviation Association (FAA) because these drones are staying indoors; more specifically… Continue reading TGI Friday's Drone Encourages Mistletoe Kisses<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":11,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"post-template-no-sidebar.php","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[24],"tags":[5],"class_list":["post-4577","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-retail-technology","tag-insight","entry"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.chainstoreguide.com\/offthechain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4577","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.chainstoreguide.com\/offthechain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.chainstoreguide.com\/offthechain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.chainstoreguide.com\/offthechain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/11"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.chainstoreguide.com\/offthechain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4577"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.chainstoreguide.com\/offthechain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4577\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.chainstoreguide.com\/offthechain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4577"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.chainstoreguide.com\/offthechain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4577"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.chainstoreguide.com\/offthechain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4577"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}