6 OCTOBER 28, 2021 RIDGEWOOD TIMES WWW.QNS.COM
Are the new grocery delivery apps
BY KIRSTYN BRENDLEN AND
GABRIELE HOLTERMANN
EDITORIAL@QNS.COM
@QNS
This is the second story in Schneps
Media’s fi ve-part series examining
the proliferation of grocery delivery
services across the city — and the impact
they’re having on residents and brickand
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 Insta-
Cart, 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
A Gorillas courier maneuvers through traffi c as she is leaving the warehouse in Chinatown to deliver groceries.
Photos by Gabriele Holtermann
on diff erent apps.
Besides promising to deliver your
groceries within 15 minutes, “Fridge
No More” also off ers 50% off the fi rst
order. However, the promo code
“50Less” had expired. Aft er 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 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” off ers brands that
can be found in any supermarket like
Pepperidge Farm and Charmin, many
of their products are more “high-end.”
Aft er 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-to-date with the delivery
status of their order.
Delivery was swift . Only 9 minutes
aft er 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
fi rst 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, fi lling a cart on the apps was
similar in price to fi lling one in-person,
though the same brand discrepancies
exist — if you’re hoping to fi nd 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
four-pack 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 gallon of Battenkill
Valley skim milk, which runs $4.49.
At Food Universe, the same dozen
eggs costs $3.99, though the store was
THE RACE TO DELIVER
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