The Art of Stupor According to Goodfood

We all make the mistake, one day, of starting a recipe and realizing after a few steps that we were missing a key ingredient. Sometimes we can get away with forcing our teenager to run to the local convenience store. But there is another option that does not require persuasive skills.

When I heard the ad on the radio, I thought I misunderstood. But no. Goodfood does offer a free 30-minute grocery delivery service with no minimum purchase.

I rushed to do the test before the conditions changed. And that’s where I learned that this bounty didn’t last forever: After a 90-day “free trial,” unlimited deliveries are available for a monthly fee of $5.95.

But no matter, this new option in the world of food in Montreal clashes significantly.

The giants Metro, IGA, Provigo, Maxi and Walmart all charge delivery fees plus, in some cases, order assembly fees.

In addition, the shopping cart must reach a few tens of dollars, and the next available time slots are almost always the next day, or even the day after, unless you pay more for the express delivery service.

At a minimum, you have to pay $5.97 to have your groceries delivered. That’s Walmart’s asking price, if you’re not in a hurry. On the IGA side, the bill can go up to $17, even if the average is around $8, an amount comparable to that required by Metro. I deliberately excluded Costco from the comparison since its operation is unique and you cannot get perishable food there, except by using the Instacart subcontractor.

Faced with such discrepancies – both financial and temporal – I asked Goodfood co-founder and CEO Jonathan Ferrari to reveal his secret recipe. I told him about the result of my experiment: 42 minutes to receive the fifteen selected foods from all the shelves, to complicate the matter. So tell me, Mr. Boss, how is it possible to assemble orders and deliver them in such a short time, while making a profit? The equation does not seem realistic!

“This is exactly the effect we want to create for our customers. We want to have an effect of amazement, of disbelief! “reacted the 33-year-old entrepreneur with a laugh.

What you need to know is that Goodfood makes its grocery deliveries from three “micro-distribution centers” located in dense urban areas (one in Montreal and two in Toronto). To access the service in 30 minutes, you must live within a radius of 5 km from there. The company will inaugurate a fourth this week (near the Central Market, in Montreal) and aims to have 20 by the end of the year (Montreal, Toronto and Ottawa). Quebec and Sherbrooke are also in their sights.

Currently, each delivery costs the company an average of $6. But as soon as the weather is nice enough, bikes will take over from the cars, bringing the cost down to $4.

In these “micro-distribution centers”, the employees responsible for assembling the orders do not zigzag between shoppers. This speeds up the process. So they have fewer steps to take than in a huge supermarket that stocks 20,000 different products. Goodfood’s small warehouses only house 1000 private label and a handful of national brands like Natrel or Nestlé.

A single format of ketchup, a single brand of coffee beans… it makes the job easier.

Result: orders are ready in 5 minutes or less. They usually consist of 10 to 12 items, with an average total value of nearly $70, an amount deemed “healthy for making a profit”. For the consumer, the prices compare favorably with those of the competition.

Of course, some customers – even more skeptical than me, perhaps – tested the system by buying only a cheese or a lettuce. Fortunately, the size of the baskets is constantly growing, says Jonathan Ferrari. And the Amazon Prime type subscription ensures a certain loyalty.

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While Goodfood’s supply is rather limited at the moment, it will grow. Jonathan Ferrari aims to develop 4,000 private label products. This is also one of the elements that improve the profitability of its recipe. “The private label gives us 10 to 15% more profit margin. It also gives it a unique and pleasant taste.

Whether it’s granola bars, lentils, spices or frozen chicken bites, the packaging stands out for its good looks.

“We were not at all inspired by the private brands of grocery stores, confides Jonathan Ferrari. We wanted to speak to our consumer who is younger, millennial or generation Z. We wanted a dynamic, fun brand that promotes the quality and origin of the products. »

All design was done in-house at Goodfood. And each product has its own personality, colors and fonts. There is no uniformity. It would have cost less, but the Montreal company wanted to project “a feeling of variety”. Efforts are also made to ensure that the packaging is as ecological as possible, we swear.

Some will say that the company’s ready-to-cook boxes are not environmentally friendly, others express their dissatisfaction on Facebook after waiting for an order that never arrived… It goes without saying that Goodfood does not no shortage of challenges to satisfy everyone and silence the critics.

But by succeeding in offering the same delivery speed as the local pizzeria, and at minimal cost, Goodfood has certainly shaken up the market.