Online Grocer Farmstead Links Up With DoorDash

Online grocery specialist Farmstead is looking to boost its profile via a partnership with one of the best-known players in food delivery: DoorDash.

Burlingame, Calif.-based Farmstead, which maintains a "dark store" model for online grocery order fulfillment, announced that customers will be able to place their orders directly through the DoorDash app for one-hour delivery. 

Previously, Farmstead customers in the company's current markets—the Bay Area; Charlotte, N.C.; and Raleigh-Durham, N.C.—could place orders only through the company's proprietary app. The partnership with DoorDash expands visibility for Farmstead as it seeks to expand to 15 cities, including Nashville and Miami, in the coming year.

In addition, the deal expands access to DoorDash for traditional grocers that license Farmstead's Grocer OS software. Under the terms of the partnership, any grocer using Grocer OS gets immediate access to DoorDash's platform and delivery network.

Last fall, Farmstead announced the closing of a $7.9 million Series A funding round, as grocery's biggest names and tech-first startups alike clamor for consumers' attention and share of wallet when it comes to speedy grocery delivery.

"We're proud to play a part in accelerating the growth of local grocers and serving their local communities, with a focus on selling essential perishable staples customers need," DoorDash Head of New Verticals Fuad Hannon said in a news release.

Farmstead co-founder and CEO Pradeep Elankumaran said the two companies "can remove the two biggest barriers to grocery e-commerce success: order picking and packing efficiency, and low-cost, high-quality delivery with a production capacity of thousands of orders per day."