The half-mile walk to catch a flight at Salt Lake City’s new airport is so notorious a reader suggested The Salt Lake Tribune add it to its list of area hike reviews. Once you arrive at your gate, however, you can relax and recover by calling up a robot to deliver a snack.
Salt Lake City International Airport and the hospitality platform Servy unveiled a novel food ordering and mobile delivery service Monday with a demonstration of “Gita” (pronounced jee-tah), a wheeled contraption that can whirl a food order to any gate.
Hungry passengers can place a mobile delivery order by visiting SLCtoGo.com.
Gita “assists in delivering contact-free meal orders,” said Greg Udchitz, Servy’s vice president of marketing, “... adding innovation to the travel experience, as well as additional safety.”
The robot uses cameras to follow an attendant with airport courier company AtYourGate to its delivery destination. It’s not entirely clear why the robot is necessary, since the attendant could theoretically carry the food.
Customers can also forgo a visit from Gita, and the robot’s $2.99 delivery fee, by instead picking up their order when it’s ready.
Participating airport-based restaurants include California Pizza Kitchen, Gourmandise Euro Diner and Bakery, Granato’s Gourmet Market, Uintah Brewing Co. and Market Street Grill.
A cursory review of the restaurants’ SLCtoGo menus show Gita will deliver a variety of food and beverage items, but, predictably, no booze.
Follow @@LeiaLarsen