Farmstead, an online-only grocer offering free delivery, goes live in the Triangle
The online-only grocery service Farmstead is now live and making deliveries in the Triangle.
The Raleigh location is the second on the East Coast for the California startup, which opened in Charlotte last fall.
Unlike other local grocery stores that offer home delivery, Farmstead has no in-store shopping options. It runs “dark stores,” or microhub warehouses, where it stocks food and then delivers within a 50-mile radius through a network of drivers.
The company also offers free delivery (with a minimum $35 order) and claims “better prices” than traditional grocery stores.
A quick check of eligible ZIP codes shows delivery is available in Raleigh, Durham, Cary, Apex, Wake Forest, Knightdale, Holly Springs and Garner. Check at drive.farmsteadapp.com/check-zipcode for your area.
Focusing only on delivery and online orders allows the company to eliminate many of the fees and inefficiencies that traditional grocers run into, CEO Pradeep Elankumaran told The News & Observer in November.
Online-only grocery store Farmstead is joining the Triangle’s competitive market scene
The startup uses an artificially intelligent software that helps the company efficiently time orders and stock the right allocation of products. (It also sells that software to other grocers.)
Farmstead opened a 1,000-person waiting list for the Raleigh service in November 2020 and filled the list within a week, the company says.
The Triangle already has a very competitive grocery market, with companies like Wegmans, Publix, Aldi and Lidl opening new stores in the area each year.
How Farmstead grocery delivery works
Customers create an account at farmsteadapp.com and then order groceries online or on their app (the company is currently offering free milk and free bacon when you sign up, but that could be a limited time offer).
Your groceries are selected by a member of Farmstead’s team at one of it’s “dark stores,” or microhub warehouses, then grouped together for more efficient delivery.
Customers can sign up for a regular “Weekly Program,” which gets them a 5% discount each time they buy the same product again.
Same-day delivery is free for orders over $35. You can get 1-hour delivery for a $4.99 fee.
