THE RACE TO DELIVER: Are the new grocery
By Kirstyn Brendlen
This is the second story in amNewYork
Metro’s five-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 find 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
Caribbean L 26 ife, NOVEMBER 5-11, 2021
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-today
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 first 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, which worked.
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 find products
that meet their budget. If you expect to
find “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 flavor 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 confirms the purchase, a
page pops up, keeping them up-to-date
with the delivery status of their order.
Delivery was swift. Only 9 minutes after
placing the order, the courier arrived,
handed over the goods, and went on his
way.
A four-pack of Scott toilet paper at the
“corner store” runs for $6.99, a dozen
eggs, cage-free are $4.99, Almond Breeze
is $5.99, a loaf of Arnold White Bread is
$4.69.
Shoppers who want to get a head start
and place an order during off-hours hoping
to receive their groceries first thing in
the morning are out of luck. Like regular
stores, the app is “closed” from 11 pm to
8 am, and orders can’t be placed during
those times.
Not everything was easy
Orders placed with JOKR and Gorillas
were less successful. Despite both
companies advertising delivery in Long
Island City, neither had a warehouse close
enough to deliver on the border between
LIC and Astoria.
Still, filling a cart on the apps was
similar in price to filling one in-person,
though the same brand discrepancies
exist — if you’re hoping to find a housebrand
jug of milk or can of vegetables on
an app, you’re likely out of luck.
A small order with Gorillas — which
was just a hypothetical, since we couldn’t
complete the transaction – amounted to
$18.84 for the groceries themselves, plus
$1.80 delivery fee, $0.28 in sales tax, and a
$6 tip — $27.33 in total.
The products themselves were priced
similarly to what we found in a nearby
Food Universe — a grocery store owned
by Key Food — and in some cases less
expensive.
A can of Del Monte Green Beans on
Gorillas was 50 percent off, $1.00, a fourpack
of Scott toilet paper, $4.99, a 2-liter
bottle of Coca-Cola, $2.69, a pint of Ben
& Jerry’s Ice cream, $5.29, and a dozen
Eggland Large White Eggs, $2.99. What
I couldn’t get on Gorillas was a gallon
of dairy milk — most of their milks are
lactose or dairy-free. I chose 12 ounces
of Ronnybrook Farm milk for $1.89, but
the real next-best choice was a half gal-
MISSING METADATA CONTENT
A Gorillas courier leaves the warehouse
in Chinatown to deliver groceries.
Photo by Gabriele Holtermann