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Farmstead makes Windy City debut

Chicago entry brings e-grocer to fifth market area

Russell Redman

February 15, 2022

2 Min Read
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Besides Chicago, Farmstead now offers service in the San Francisco Bay area, Miami and North Carolina's Charlotte and Raleigh-Durham.Farmstead

Pure-play online grocer Farmstead has launched its fast delivery service in the Chicago area.

Burlingame, Calif.-based Farmstead said Tuesday that it now provides free online grocery delivery in as soon as an hour to customers in the city of Chicago and surrounding suburbs, including such communities as Oak Park, Cicero, Oak Lawn, Evanston, Waukegan, Arlington Heights, Elgin, Schaumburg, Des Plaines, Aurora, Naperville and Orland Park, Ill. The company supports the Chicago same-day service through a new 30,000-square-foot warehouse located just outside the city in Franklin Park, Ill.

Farmstead unveiled its planned Chicago launch in mid-January. The e-grocer noted that its waitlist for the first 1,000 customers to sign up, who received an exclusive $30-off benefit, filled within days. Besides national brands like Kraft, Farmstead is offering local Chicago brands such as Oberweis Dairy, Intelligentsia Coffee, Gino’s East Pizza, Vienna Beef and Hometown Bagel Chips.

“Farmstead is different from any other grocery delivery option in Chicago,” Farmstead CEO and co-founder Pradeep Elankumaran said in a statement. “With Farmstead, customers get the best-quality, local produce; great local Chicago brands; and national-brand staples all in one place, with no markups or fees. And we can deliver quickly in a broad radius, not just downtown. We’re excited to show Chicago that there’s a better way to get groceries online.”

Related:Online grocer Farmstead to accept SNAP EBT transactions

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Farmstead uses AI technology and a dark-store model to optimize efficiency and reduce costs, with its delivery-centric warehouses typically serving a 50-mile radius.

Chicago marks Farmstead’s fifth market. Founded in 2016, the e-tailer started off in the San Francisco Bay area and last year entered Raleigh-Durham, N.C., and Miami following a late 2020 launch in Charlotte, N.C. The company said it aims to expand nationwide and serve a primarily suburban, midmarket customer base.

Though guaranteeing a two- to four-hour time window, Farmstead focuses on one- to two-hour delivery and serving consumers across a large radius — generally 50 miles — that the company said helps eliminate food deserts while offering better prices than local supermarkets. More than 70% of Farmstead customers end up enrolling in weekly delivery, which brings extra discounts on fresh staple products purchased regularly.

Leveraging artificial intelligence technology, Farmstead said it has “reinvented the grocery buying experience” and “rewired how food moves across the country” to make locally sourced food more accessible and reduce food waste. The online grocer also licenses its Grocery OS technology stack to other retailers, providing a turnkey solution for getting a dark-store delivery operation up and running in two to three weeks, from securing commercial real estate space to inventory sourcing to delivery service.

Related:Farmstead’s Grocery OS helps grocers launch dark-store operations

About the Author

Russell Redman

Senior Editor
Supermarket News

Russell Redman has served as senior editor at Supermarket News since April 2018, his second tour with the publication. In his current role, he handles daily news coverage for the SN website and contributes news and features for the print magazine, as well as participates in special projects, podcasts and webinars and attends industry events. Russ joined SN from Racher Press Inc.’s Chain Drug Review and Mass Market Retailers magazines, where he served as desk/online editor for more than nine years, covering the food/drug/mass retail sector. 

Russell Redman’s more than 30 years of experience in journalism span a range of editorial manager, editor, reporter/writer and digital roles at a variety of publications and websites covering a breadth of industries, including retailing, pharmacy/health care, IT, digital home, financial technology, financial services, real estate/commercial property, pro audio/video and film. He started his career in 1989 as a local news reporter and editor, covering community news and politics in Long Island, N.Y. His background also includes an earlier stint at Supermarket News as center store editor and then financial editor in the mid-1990s. Russ holds a B.A. in journalism (minor in political science) from Hofstra University, where he also earned a certificate in digital/social media marketing in November 2016.

Russell Redman’s experience:

Supermarket News - Informa
Senior Editor 
April 2018 - present

Chain Drug Review/Mass Market Retailers - Racher Press
Desk/Online Editor 
Sept. 2008 - March 2018

CRN magazine - CMP Media
Managing Editor
May 2000 - June 2007

Bank Systems & Technology - Miller Freeman
Executive Editor/Managing Editor
Dec. 1996 - May 2000

Supermarket News - Fairchild Publications
Financial Editor/Associate Editor
April 1995 - Dec. 1996 

Shopping Centers Today Magazine - ICSC 
Desk Editor/Assistant Editor
Dec. 1992 - April 1995

Testa Communications
Assistant Editor/Contributing Editor (Music & Sound Retailer, Post, Producer, Sound & Communications and DJ Times magazines)
Jan. 1991 - Dec. 1992 

American Banker/Bond Buyer
Copy Editor
Oct. 1990 - Jan. 1991 

This Week newspaper - Chanry Communications
Reporter/Editor
May 1989 - July 1990

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