PEAPOD, WHICH CELEBRATES ITS 20TH BIRTHDAY THIS YEAR, was founded by Andrew Parkinson, a former brand manager at Procter & Gamble, and his bother Thomas Parkinson, a software engineer, in Evanston, Ill., in 1989.
Though well ahead of the dot-com boom, the company was nonetheless swept into competition with high-spending, would-be competitors in the late 1990s and was nearly wiped out in the bust that followed.
A partnership with Ahold — which helped the company sweep up the leftovers of former competitors — helped Peapod through it, and return to the store-based vision of its founders. Following are highlights from 20 years in the business:
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1989: Peapod founded in Evanston, Ill., by brothers Andrew and Thomas Parkinson.
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1990: Test marketing gets under way in partnership with Jewel Food Stores around Evanston. Customers are provided software to run the program and modems to dial into the service.
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1991: Peapod expands to Chicago in partnership with Jewel.
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1993: Launches service in San Francisco, partnering with Safeway.
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1995: Initiates its first advertising campaign; service expanded to Columbus, Ohio, in partnership with Kroger.
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1996: Peapod launches in Boston with Stop & Shop; shifts service to the Internet for the first time. Company named to Inc. magazine's list of the 500 fastest-growing U.S. private companies.
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1997: Initial public offering on NASDAQ.
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1998: Introduces service on Long Island, N.Y., with Stop & Shop and in Texas with Tom Thumb and Randalls.
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1999: Growing Chicago business — and pressure from new competitors including Webvan, Home Grocer and Streamline — sparks Peapod to adopt a central warehouse model there. Outside CEO, Bill Malloy, is hired.
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2000: Dot-com bust catches Peapod when Malloy abruptly resigns and a $120 million private equity investment suddenly dissolves. Financial crisis is averted when Ahold buys 51% of the stock and names Marc van Gelder, an Ahold executive, as its new CEO. In September, Peapod acquires former warehouses of belly-up competitor Streamline.com in Chicago and Washington, D.C.
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2001: Launches Peapod by Giant service in Washington, D.C.; Ahold buys the remaining Peapod stock and pursues an exclusive bricks-and-clicks partnership, exiting Columbus, Ohio; Dallas; Houston; Austin, Texas; and San Francisco markets; relocates to Lake Zurich, Ill.-based custom warehouse built by competitor Scotty's Home Market and later sold to Streamline. Scotty's founder, Scott DeGraeve, joins Peapod.
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2003: Reaches profitability in four markets; expands to New Haven and Hartford, Conn., markets.
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2004: Introduces service in selected markets including Mt. Vernon, N.Y.; Rhode Island; Baltimore; and Watchung, N.J. Andrew Parkinson, co-founder and former chief financial officer, named president and general manager as van Gelder departs.
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2005: Service expanded to new markets including Milwaukee.
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2007: Peapod opens its first dedicated merchant facility in Boston; delivers its 10 millionth order; expands to additional markets on Long Island and in Massachusetts.
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2008: Expands service to Riverhead, N.Y., and Toms River, N.J.
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2009: Expands service to northwest Indiana and Madison, Wis., markets. Marks 20th anniversary.
