In the course of several weeks, several new grocery delivery businesses competing with the likes of Instacart and Inabuggy have emerged to address the unprecedented demand for food during the COVID-19 pandemic.
In Toronto, two new grocery deliveries firms launched in March: Food to You and Easypeasy Grocery Delivery.
Food to You delivers groceries to customers across the GTA. Founders Urjit Dave and Vinu Lankaputhra told blogTo.com that they wanted to provide an inexpensive option for people. There is no delivery fee or tips, just a service fee of 15 per cent and products aren’t marked up, say the founders.
Easypeasy founders are brother-sister duo Jamie and Felicia Somerton, who run a small design studio and formed the business in late March and since then have been busy filling orders. Customers who order from the new service receive “the Fresh Essentials Kit,” a $68 grocery box filled with fresh produce, pasta, eggs, bread, rice and grocery other items.
In Winnipeg, a pub that closed down the day before St. Patrick’s Day temporarily converted into a grocery delivery service. Chris Graves, the pub’s owner, told CTV news that it was a way to keep employees working and said the service is a zero-contact curbside delivery service with payments being made electronically through the pub’s website.
Another new on-demand grocery delivery service based in Winnipeg is Canadian E-Market, which partnered with Food Fare and other local grocers. Canadian E-Market told CTV News that it has given each partner store a tablet through which it will receive the orders and then fill them. The service is fully automated and gives customers the ability to track their orders. The company said it plans to launch the service in more cities across Western Canada in the coming weeks.
