The customer
need for speed and increased demand for more fresh prepared meals, and meal
components from the ilk of chain restaurants, convenience stores, deli’s, and
new non-traditional fresh food retailers are all in a battle for a larger share
of stomach to grow top line sales and bottom line profits according to Steven
Johnson, Grocerant Guru® at Tacoma, WA based Foodservice Solutions®.
Instacart recently landed an
additional $600 million as part of a financing round led by hedge fund D1
Capital Partners. The e-commerce company has raised more than $1.6 billion in
funding since its launch in 2012, and the latest financing lifted its valuation
to $7.6 billion. My friend’s fresh food
delivery is not going away. Yes, I know
you have read in legacy food trade magazines delivery will be fading in two
years. Don’t believe it.
Regular reader of
this blog know that our Grocerant Guru® was the first to identify, quantify,
and qualify the ‘up-tick in demand for Ready-2-Eat and Heat-N-Eat fresh
prepared food delivery, online ordering, and pick-up food back in the day when
he created
the term/word GROCERANT then trademark it to help explain the new platform driving
incremental fresh food sales.
The
new capital will be funneled toward additional expansion in North America —
with new plans to build a Canadian technology hub — along with marketing
investments to boost awareness of its service at grocery stores and recruit
engineering and product development talent.
“The
U.S. is nearly a $1 trillion grocery market, and last year we saw almost every
major grocer in North America bring their delivery business online in a
significant way. We believe we’re in the very early stages of a massive shift
in the way people buy groceries, and we expect that one in five Americans
will be shopping for their groceries online in the next five years,” Apoorva
Mehta (left), founder and CEO of Instacart, said in a statement.
It’s
not just restaurants that are expanding delivery of fresh food options. Grocery
retailers recently making significant expansions with Instacart service include
Kroger, Aldi, BJ’s Wholesale Club, Hy-Vee, Publix, Supervalu and Albertsons.
Supervalu announced a program to resell Instacart’s service to independent
grocers, while Albertsons launched an Instacart-powered virtual store for its O
Organics brand.
Foodservice Solutions® specializes in
outsourced business development. We can help you identify, quantify and qualify
additional food retail segment opportunities or a new menu product segment and
brand and menu integration strategy. Foodservice Solutions® of
Tacoma WA is the global leader in
the Grocerant niche visit Facebook.com/Steven Johnson, www.Linkedin.com/in/grocerant/
or www.twitter.com/grocerant/
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