BY KIRSTYN BRENDLEN AND
GABRIELE HOLTERMANN
This is the second story in
amNewYork Metro’s fi ve-part
series examining the proliferation
of grocery delivery services
across the city — and the
impact they’re having on residents
and brick-and-mortar
business owners alike.
New quick-commerce grocery
delivery apps promise to
get you what you need within
15 minutes of placing your order
— whether it’s a full cart
of groceries or just the carton
of eggs you need to bake
brownies.
But the speed of delivery
isn’t the only draw — it’s the
cost.
Startups like Gorillas,
Fridge No More, 1520 and
JOKR advertise free delivery
or low delivery charges, and
no minimum order price.
On their website, Fridge
No More declares “No extra
cost for convenience. How
are prices so good? Smaller
stores = lower rent.” JOKR
says their prices are about the
same as what you’d fi nd in the
local grocery store.
Each of these deliver from
a series of small, neighborhood
based “dark stores,” micro
warehouses not open to
the public. A smaller store, as
Fridge No More says, means
lower rent.
“We have less overhead
in a small store than a traditional
shopping center, and
we’re able to have more control
over our inventory and
our waste cost,” said Tyler
Trerotola, U.S. co-founder of
JOKR. “Which we can channel
back to the consumer
through better pricing.”
Unlike grocery services
like InstaCart, where personal
shoppers are sent to existing
grocery stores, these
companies buy their stock directly
from suppliers — there
is no middle man.
“Because we own our inventory,
we can procure from
both your large CPGs (consumer
packaged goods) of
the world all the way down to
your mom and pop shops, and
have all of that in the same
store for delivery. So we make
more margin on all of that,”
Trerotola said.
The companies also keep
track of what sells and what
doesn’t in each warehouse,
allowing them to tailor the
number of items they order
and store – something else
that can keep costs down, as
they aren’t ordering miscellaneous
items that need to be
thrown away.
Making a grocery run
Our reporters placed grocery
orders from some of the
city’s most popular apps – or
tried to – to see how prices
on day-to-day necessities like
eggs, milk, and toilet paper
compared to the costs of the
same or similar foods on different
apps.
Besides promising to deliver
your groceries within
15 minutes, “Fridge No More”
also offers 50% off the fi rst
order. However, the promo
code “50Less” had expired.
After contacting customer
service via their app — they
responded within one minute
with a quite cheerful
sounding message — the rep
provided a new promo code,
“Uprooted” event studio promotes JOKR’s new beer delivery.
Photo by Gabriele Holtermann
which worked.
BRONX TIMES REPORTER, O 8 CT. 29-NOV. 4, 2021 BTR
The app doesn’t provide
the option of sorting their
products from lowest to highest
priced, so frugal customers
have to scroll through the
app to fi nd products that meet
their budget. If you expect
to fi nd “no-name” brands to
save an extra buck, you’re
out of luck. While “Fridge No
More” offers brands that can
be found in any supermarket
like Pepperidge Farm and
Charmin, many of their products
are more “high-end.”
After adding a four-count
of “Seventh Generation” toilet
paper at $5.29, 10 oz of
ground Cafe Bustelo Espresso
at $4.19, a dozen large eggs at
$3.19, a loaf of white Italian
bread at $2.89, a 20 oz bottle
of Gatorade at $1,89, Silk Almond
Milk for $4.49, and a
pint of “Halo Top Ice Cream,”
sea salt caramel fl avor at
$5.29, and one of America’s
favorite drinks, Coca Cola,
which only comes in cans and
small glass bottles — checkout
was pretty easy.
The total was $27.23, but
with the 50% code, I ended
up paying $19.61, including a
20% tip or $5.49 for the courier.
The app gives customers
the option of tipping between
10, 15, 20, or 25%. The courier
receives 80% and the packer
20%. Once the customer confi
rms the purchase, a page
pops up, keeping them up-todate
with the delivery status
of their order.
A Gorillas courier leaves the warehouse in Chinatown to deliver groceries.
Photo by Gabriele Holtermann
THE RACE
TO
DELIVER