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The Spoon

Daily news and analysis about the food tech revolution

Grocery

Breaking: Fast Grocery Startup JOKR Shutting Down US Operations

Another fast-grocery startup bites the dust.

JOKR, the speedy grocery delivery company that was part of a larger wave of startups that entered the US last year, is shutting down its US operations, according to an email sent to customers today. The company said the last day of delivery in New York City and Boston will be June 19th.

From the email:

While we were able to build an amazing customer base (thank you!!) and lay the groundwork for a sustainable business in the US, the company has made the tough decision to exit the market during this period of global economic uncertainty.

According to the letter, JOKR closed their shops today to give their team the day off and will reopen for deliveries through Sunday. Customers can order food items at a 50% discount and will also be able to order items for pick up next week as the company clears out its inventory.

The news of JOKR winding down their US business is just the latest in a string of bad news for fast-grocery startups, many of which just last year had raised eye-popping rounds of venture capital and expanded to new cities. In March, Fridge No More and Buyk indicated they would be shutting down, and last month saw Berlin-based Gorillas announce layoffs and GoPuff begin shutting down multiple warehouses.

Last year, we asked the question if these companies were the second coming of Kozmo, the infamous fast-delivery startup from the first dot-com boom. With the news of their struggles, it’s appearing that the answer to that question may be yes.

Innit & Google Cloud Offer Personalized Nutrition Recommendations For Those With Diabetes and Other Health Conditions

Innit, a startup that makes software to digitize the consumer meal journey, announced today it has teamed up with Google Cloud to offer a new software module to food retailers to enable personalized healthy eating recommendations to their online grocer customers.

The new offering, which will be available to customers of Google Cloud via the Google Cloud Marketplace, enables grocers and other companies to create personalized nutrition recommendations for customers with health conditions such as type 2 diabetes, hypertension, obesity, and heart disease.

According to the announcement, the module utilizes an algorithm that scores various meal plans based on the shopper’s needs and then offers recommendations for personalized nutrition to consumers looking to optimize for a variety of health concerns. The module also provides assistance with cooking and meal planning.

According to Innit CEO Kevin Brown, the company increased its focus on health and wellness over the past year. They developed an app for Roche, one of Europe’s largest pharmaceutical companies, to help those with type 2 diabetes better manage their eating and meal planning.

“The Roche project allowed us to sharpen up a lot of the diet and health and science focus,” Brown said in a phone interview with The Spoon. “We worked with our science committee, worked with the doctors of the customer to put together a really good program that provides daily guidance to people that are struggling.”

After the Roche project, Innit saw it could take much of what it built and offer it to a variety of customers through its partnership with Google Cloud.

“We saw that there was kind of a big unsolved problem for actionable healthy eating,” Brown said. “So now we’re packaging that up together with Google and bringing that to all of the grocery retailers, as well as healthcare companies.”

The new offering expands on Innit’s relationship with Google, which got its start in 2018 with the addition of Innit functionality to their Google Home product. Google Cloud first offered Innit’s technology for personalized food recommendations through the Cloud Marketplace last year, and this latest offering gives food retailers and others the ability to add focused personalized nutrition plans for specific health conditions.

Innit has come a long way since the company’s early focus on developing guided cooking and smart appliance software for kitchen appliance manufacturers. The company’s acquisition of Shopwell in early 2017 kickstarted Innit’s move into shoppable recipes and personalized food data, and today the company describes itself as a personalized nutrition platform company. In many ways, this move by Innit is indicative of the broader move by smart kitchen software players to beef up their food commerce and personalized health offerings over the past few years.

When I asked Brown if Innit is still talking to appliance manufacturers about building solutions for their products, he told me that while these companies did slow down their digitization initiatives over the past few years as a result of supply chain and manufacturing difficulties related to COVID, conversations have begun to heat up again.

“There definitely was some industry slowdown, but we’re seeing it wake up again,” Brown said. “I’ve had multiple calls and new customer discussions with appliance manufacturers and so things are starting to wake back up.”

How California’s New Food Waste Law Could Catalyze Interest & Investment in Tech-Powered Food Recovery Platforms

Starting next year, California’s Senate Bill 1383 will begin to require businesses and consumers to separate food waste from their garbage and put them into “green” bins for proper composting.

The legislation, passed in 2016 by then-governor Jerry Brown and the California state legislature, also will begin requiring tier 1 food businesses (grocery retailers, food distributors, food service providers) to divert 20% of food destined to be thrown away to food recovery organizations by the year 2025.

While I think it’s a good thing that everyone in California – both consumers and businesses – will eventually be required to start composting, I’m more interested in how SB 1383 could catalyze interest in platforms that help put food destined for the waste bin on someone’s plate instead. After all, while composting is a net positive from a climate impact reduction perspective, it’s also the last stop on the food waste recovery and mitigation express. In other words, when food feeds someone instead of ending up as fertilizer, everyone wins.

Image Source: CalRecycle SB 1383 Overview

The timing is good for the law, partly because the pandemic has driven home the realization among businesses that it’s their responsibility to try and divert food to local food banks or other food recovery organizations as good corporate citizens. And of course, it also makes good business sense, since by redirecting food to food recovery organizations, these businesses can also claim these donations on their taxes.

As grocery retailers and other tier 1 food businesses ramp up their food diversion efforts, there are some organizations that could help them along the way. One of these companies is Goodr, which offers grocery retailers and other food-related organizations a tech platform and associated service to help them get excess food in the hands of food charities. Goodr sprang into action in its home market of Atlanta during the early days of the pandemic and showed it could really make an impact. Other organizations such as Quest also provide food diversion services and food waste audits.

One of the challenges of a food recovery program is just having the ability to track and manage potential food waste. There are a number of technology platform providers such as Afresh and Crisp that give grocery providers tools powered by machine vision, AI, and other cutting-edge technologies to better predict and manage fresh food inventories. There are even food robot companies like Simbe developing technologies to help assist in food waste reduction management.

Finally, there are marketplaces like Olio and Too Good to Go that enable grocery retailers, restaurants, and other organizations to list excess edible food for sale on a highly-discounted basis to local consumers. While food sold on these platforms will not count towards the company’s 20% food diversion requirement, using them will help a company reduce the overall amount of food wasted and help provide low-cost food to consumers.

But what I am most excited about is how SB 1383 could give rise to new solutions to help food retailers and foodservice providers waste less food. New regulations often serve as catalysts for innovation, giving large businesses a new reason to invest in core technology infrastructure. As SB 1383’s regulations begin to go into effect, innovators with good ideas for new technology to help companies reduce food waste and redirect excess food towards food insecure citizens will have a growing market opportunity for their solutions. This growing opportunity will likely attract more venture investment for a category that has, at least in the past, had a hard time convincing investors there was enough of a market to garner them a return on their investment.

Why “HOW” Is The Next Big Frontier In Food Marketing

The organic food movement was born way back in the early 1900s as a response to the shift towards synthetic fertilizers and pesticides in the early days of industrial agriculture. However, it wasn’t until 1972 when John Battendieri founded Santa Cruz Organics and marketed some of the first packaged organic products. And it wasn’t until 2002 when the USDA adopted national standards for organic products (National Organic Program). This new USDA designation served to usher organic into the mainstream and by the mid-2000s, organic food sales entered a rapid growth phase, increasing by roughly 17-20% per year (compared with 2-3% for conventional food sales). Today, the organic market is a massive 14 billion dollar-a-year industry that continues to grow. Even large corporations such as Wal-Mart are now offering organic choices to their customers.

Ultimately, people wanted to know what was in their food and, more to the point, they wanted to feel good about it. They wanted food to be natural and non-artificial, the way nature intended.

Having satisfied concerns about ‘what’ was in their food, the next question for many of these mainstream consumers became ‘where’ – and quickly, the local food movement exploded. We now see the “local” designation everywhere, from restaurants to grocery stores. Walk into any Sweetgreen, and you’ll see a list of the local farms which have produced all of your salad’s ingredients. And like organic, local is great, the food is fresher and more sustainable.

However, with the ‘what’ and the ‘where’ boxes checked, it’s fair to wonder what the next big question for the more conscious food consumer is going to be. I’m betting it’s ‘how’ — and ‘how’ is about to go mainstream in a very big way.

One of my “aha” moments came during the most recent Super Bowl. Alongside your standard advertisements for new products (GM EV car batteries, 3D Doritos) and tried and true services (Rocket Mortgage, Uber Eats), there was a somewhat unusual yet fascinating ad from Chipotle Mexican Grill. The spot, titled “Can a Burrito Change the World”, featured no new product, and in fact, it barely featured Chipotle at all. In the ad, a young boy asks the question, “What if this [his burrito] could change the world?” The commercial then rapidly tracks the burrito back through the food supply chain, through the planting, watering, growing, shipping stages, and touching on related topics of healthy soil and carbon emissions. The ad ends with the words (notice the “how’s”), “How we grow our food is how we grow our future” — and if that sounds serious, that’s because, well, it is!

The world population is increasing — rapidly. There were 5.4 billion people in 1991, there’s 7.9 billion people currently, and we’re projected to reach 9.9 billion people by 2051. In other words, we’re well on our way to doubling the global population in a period of just 60 years. That’s a lot of mouths to feed, and with the FAO estimating that 1/3 of all food produced globally is lost or goes to waste, it also comes at a huge cost to the planet.

How huge? Roughly 8-10% of the world’s greenhouse gas emissions (GHGs) comes from food waste. In fact, if food waste were a country, it would be the 3rd largest emitter of GHGs behind only the US and China.

Therefore, reducing food waste and maximizing efficiencies within the food supply chain is not only critical to feeding our expanding global population, but it’s also a key factor in fighting climate change and saving the planet. Which brings us back to the conversation of ‘how’. Or again, as Chipotle posited, “How we grow our food is how we grow our future”.

Thankfully, the ‘how’ conversation now carries some hope thanks to some incredible change and innovation happening across the food world. From modern vertical farming to booming urban agriculture industries, we’re learning how to grow food locally, more efficiently, and more sustainably. The startup company I helped co-found, Hazel Technologies, has developed solutions to safely and effectively extend the shelf life of produce by controlling the atmosphere around the produce during its shipping process. The result? Shoppers get to buy fresher, longer-lasting produce, food growers net bigger profits, and the environment sees less food waste. This year alone Hazel is projected to save over 500 million pounds of wasted produce — and we’re just getting started.

Fresher, longer-lasting produce that also benefits the environment would seemingly be a hit with the same customer base that buys organic and local, and in fact, that’s exactly what we’re starting to see on the marketing front. Some of the largest farming companies in the world like Mission Produce (the world’s largest avocado distributor) and Oppy (Canada’s largest fresh produce distributor) are now promoting the use of Hazel’s technology in their supply chain. These market leaders see Hazel’s benefits as a major selling point for environmentally conscious consumers — or even just for those who want longer-lasting produce.

From grocery store shelves to Super Bowl ads, it’s clear that ‘how’ is emerging as the next big frontier in food marketing. Case in point, this year’s CES conference, the most influential tech event in the world, will offer Food Tech as a featured part of the conference for the first time ever. Conference attendees can expect to see an incredible showcase of innovation with much of it dedicated to ‘how’ topics like growing, production, and sustainability.

Producing enough food to feed a growing population without over-taxing the planet is going to be one of the world’s biggest challenges in the coming years, but through innovation it can be done. It all boils down to ‘how’.

This industry perspective was written by Pat Flynn. Flynn is CMO and cofounder of Hazel Technologies, a food tech startup that develops products that extend the shelf life of produce.

Starbucks and Amazon Combine Forces to Create a Cashierless Coffee Shop

Wonder Twin powers, activate: Form of a cashierless coffee shop.

That’s right, today two Seattle-based giants, Starbucks and Amazon, announced they’ve combined their formidable superpowers to create a cashierless coffee shop. The new shop, called Starbucks Pickup with Amazon Go, debuts today in New York City.

The new Pickup store uses Amazon’s Just Walk Out technology, a system that features a variety of cutting-edge tech like computer vision and IoT sensors, as well as Amazon’s bio-authentication hand-scanning technology, Amazon One.

Here’s how it works: Customers order through the Starbucks app and can check order status on a digital screen. When it’s ready, coffee is picked up directly from the barista. The Pickup store also includes a mini-Go store stocked with snack and lunch items, as well as a lounge area. Access to both the store and the lounge is enabled through a one-time code from the Amazon Go app, a credit card swipe, or checking in via Amazon One’s hand-ID system. Once authenticated, customers can drop items from the store into their cart and will be charged once they leave.

The lounge is slightly different from the usual Starbucks store format in that it features individual work cubbies alongside the standard tables and chairs. Each cubby is equipped with USB ports and power outlets.

According to a company spokesperson, the two companies plan to open two additional Pickups over the next year, with the second one slated to open in the New York Times building. Beyond that, the company isn’t saying, but given Starbucks’ focus on upgrading their formats to enable quicker service and less overall contact post-pandemic, my guess is that if the initial stores work well, the Pickup format will become a go-to for Starbucks moving forward.

You can see the store in the B-roll provided by Starbucks below:

Starbucks Pickup Store, Featuring Amazon Just Walk Out Technology

Noka’s Smart Shopping Baskets Lets Customers Walk Out Without Going Through the Check-Out Line

According to Omnico’s US Retail Report, 74 percent of consumers believe technology will make shopping easier and remove sources of annoyance, like long lines at the register. A start-up called Noka recently introduced its cashierless technology for grocery stores and supermarkets.

What sets Tbilisi Georgia-based Noka’s tech apart from simple self-checkout is its smart shopping baskets. When customers enter a store equipped with Noka’s technology, they grab a basket and touch a sensor button (not a fingerprint sensor). They are then let in the barrier separating the entrance and main store area.

Once in the store area, customers grab items and fill up their baskets. Noka’s baskets identify the shopper and track the items placed into the basket. All products are located behind fridge-like doors which cannot be opened unless a customer has their hand on the basket. Shelves within the store are equipped with weight sensors that recognize how many products are picked up from the shelf.

Introducing NOKA Technology: Shopping experience in the first cashierless store

If a customer decides to put an item back, it is automatically subtracted from the order. At checkout, they simply press the sensor button again and pay with a credit card or Apple pay. After payment is complete, the customer can exit out the two-way barrier.

According to David Topchishvili, the CEO of Noka, “Unlike Amazon Go, Trigo, AiFi and other competitors, NOKA technology doesn’t use recognition cameras, we don’t need large servers for computing, and it can be easily scalable.”

Although Noka does stand apart with its smart shopping baskets, there are still a lot of companies in this space. A company that has a similar concept to Noka, is Israel-based Shopic, which has created smart shopping carts. Amazon was one of the first to debut its cashierless tech in 2018, with its first Amazon Go. Other companies in the cashierless space include AiFi, Mashgin, Grabango, and Trigo.

Noka unveiled a prototype of its system in August 2020 and trialed it at an experimental store with 100 SKUs in November 2020. In September 2021, the company’s deployed its baskets for the first time in an actual store environment in its home country of Georgia. In this first real-world deployment, the company’s baskets can identify up to 1,000 product SKUs.

Dawn of the Robocorn? Micro-Fulfillment Robot Specialist Fabric Raises $200M on $1 Billion Valuation

Fabric, a maker of robotic micro-fulfillment solutions for grocery and e-commerce retailers, announced today they have raised $200 million in a Series C funding round. The new funding puts the company’s valuation at $1 billion.

Formerly called Common Sense Robotics, Fabric works with large online grocers and retailers such as Walmart, Instacart, and FreshDirect to build automated micro-fulfillment centers via a mix of fulfillment-as-a-service and hybrid ownership models. The company’s solution involves an intricate blend of robotics, vertically stacked storage of products, and human operators and packers that help package up the final delivery and handoff to delivery drivers.

You can see what a Fabric micro-fulfillment center (MFC) in Tel Aviv looks like in action as it processes an order below:

The World's First 1-hour Delivery Fulfilled by Robots

The funding, which vaults the company into what it describes as a ‘robocorn’ status, is not a surprise given the fast growth of the company and the broader micro-fulfillment market. Interact Analysis forecasts MFC automation and robotics market to grow from $136 million in 2020 to $5.3 billion in 2025. Revenue growth will be fueled by a rapidly growing number of MFC installations in various formats throughout the forecast; Interact expects the the total number of MFCs installed annual to grow from 29 in 2020 to over 2100 new MFCs installed in 2025.

The company plans to use the funds to grow its fulfillment solution in the general merchandise market and build a network of micro-fulfillment centers in cities across the United States. The company’s model relies heavily on building warehouse fulfillment centers that allow grocery retailers to outsource micro-fulfillment to Fabric. Fabric also co-invests and builds distributed fulfillment centers in partnership with larger players such as Instacart and FreshDirect.

That strategy makes Fabric part of a new kind of third-party logistics (3PL) player built around robotics and automation as an enabling platform for their distributed fulfillment networks. While large 3PL companies like XPO Logistics and C.H. Robinson been adopting automation in their warehouses for some time, companies like Fabric, Exotec and Attabotics are building hybrid networks of dark and retail/integrated grocery MFCs architected from the get-go with robotics in mind (rather than a bolt-on or forced integration). As more retailers invest in distribution networks tailored towards a grocery industry with 50%+ e-commerce penetration, next-gen MFC platform companies like these are well-situated to benefit.

“While we use the term ‘robocorn’ a bit tongue in cheek, we see this milestone as a real turning point in the industry, from what was once trepid exploration of micro-fulfillment to total market validation and now rapid expansion,’ said Fabric CEO Elram Goren in the release sent to The Spoon. “We’re thankful to our partners for trusting us to serve them and to our incredible team who will continue moving mountains to make our vision a reality. This is still ‘day one’ for us, and we’re extremely excited about the road ahead as we expand our offering into new markets, drive more efficiencies across the supply chain, and focus on scaling.”

Instacart Acquires Smart Cart and Grocery Checkout Technology Startup Caper AI

Today Instacart announced they had acquired Caper AI, a smart cart and grocery checkout technology company. Instacart confirmed to Techcrunch they paid $350 million for the company.

In Caper AI, Instacart acquires a portfolio of automated checkout and smart cart technology solutions, many of which are deployed in major national grocery retailers across North America. One such retailer is Kroger, which began deploying “KroGo Powered by Caper” smart shopping carts at a store in Kroger’s hometown of Cincinnati, Ohio, earlier this year.

Caper’s latest generation smart carts feature machine vision that allows shoppers to place the items in the cart and bypass counter checkout altogether.

Caper also has an automated checkout solution targeted towards smaller format stores. The company’s AI Counter utilizes a scale and machine vision to recognize up to 10 items and automate the checkout process.

According to the announcement, Instacart plans on integrating Caper’s technology into the Instacart app as well as both its in-store and online experiences for its grocery partners. One interesting potential application hinted at is a shoppable recipe integration with Caper’s smart carts: “Over time, Instacart expects to integrate Caper’s technology into the Instacart app and the ecommerce websites and apps of its retail partners, allowing customers to build online shopping lists and browse recipes ahead of time and check off their lists as they go. And, for Instacart shoppers who shop on behalf of customers, they can also utilize the carts to find items more efficiently and bypass long checkout lines.”

With the move, Instacart adds another tool to a growing arsenal of e-commerce and in-store technology solutions targeted towards grocery providers at a time many are beginning to question their relationship with the company. Over the past decade, Instacart has provided many grocery chains an easier glide path for moving into e-commerce and in-store shopping automation, areas with steep learning curves that grocers with tight margins have historically been more than happy to outsource. However, some grocers see Instacart’s in-store shopping service as taking too big a cut and possibly disintermediating them in the process.

However, as Instacart grows its enterprise technology solutions, I expect we’ll increasingly see its flagship shopper service decoupled from its technology as it looks to serve larger retailers who want greater control over the customer relationship. Since the start of the pandemic, many grocery retailers have started to roll out and standardize around their delivery services, which means a fast-growing market for technology solutions. My guess is Instacart is anticipating this as it rolls up some of the best-in-class independent solution providers as it prepares for an IPO soon.

In short, this move and others are part of Instacart evolving into a more diversified omnichannel grocery technology arms dealer.

Innit Teams Up With Google Cloud To Power Personalized Shopping

Smart kitchen and personalized shopping software startup Innit announced today they have partnered with Google Cloud. The new strategic partnership will help “grocery retailers to deliver personalized services across the entire meal journey, spanning online, in-store, and at home.”

This isn’t the first time the two companies have worked together. Innit was part of Google’s CES Demo in 2018, complete with a Tyler Florence cooking demo , and in 2019 the two announced a partnership with contract manufacturer Flex. Today’s news is an expansion of their collaboration into digitizing the grocery shopping experience.

Google “has been working with us to put together a solution targeting grocery retail,” said Innit CEO Kevin Brown via a Zoom interview this week. “Innit is a vertical market expert in food and recipes and nutrition and how it all comes together. AWe essentially combined the Innit capabilities with the Google capabilities to power grocery stores to have a much better digital experience with our consumers.”

At an execution level, Google Cloud will leverage Innit’s food and shopper data to help grocery stores to deliver more personalized experiences such as custom shopping lists built around recipes or dietary preferences. This could mean personalized recommendations for a shopper or building a custom meal kit around a recipe.

The partnership is part of a multiyear move by Innit into grocery shopping digitization which began with the company’s acquisition of Shopwell. Shopwell helped to round out Innit’s platform, which was initially focused on guided cooking and the in-kitchen consumer experience, and put them into conversation with grocers. The move paid off for Innit and help them snag a deal with Carrefour last year to power the large European grocery retailer’s personalized nutrition score initiative.

It also was one of the first moves by a smart kitchen software player to create digital grocery platforms.

I asked Brown why many of the smart kitchen players have focused on grocery in recent years.

“We’re excited about the future of that (connected kitchen), but it happens that sort of hardware speed,” said Brown.

“We see that as one of the anchor pieces over time, but right now, there’s a huge focus on the front end of that. Of how do I deal with all the wellness and health issues? How do I find the right products? How do I shop? And so that’s where we basically put all of the building blocks together of the past several years to finally be able to embed that into the shopping experience itself and carry people all the way through.”

It’s the second move by the Google Cloud team into the consumer cooking and meal journey experience over the past couple of weeks. On August 19th, the company had announced a partnership with GE Appliances to build next-gen smart home appliances. One has to wonder if the flurry of digital food and kitchen deals is part of a broader effort by the cloud giant to grow its market share in the consumer food and lifestyle vertical in the coming years by focusing on next-gen digital and AI powered solutions.

Stop & Shop Now Accepting EBT Payments From SNAP Customers Shopping Online

The Stop & Shop grocery chain announced today that its customers on the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) can use their Electronic Benefits Transfer (EBT) card when placing orders online for pickup and delivery. The new program extends to all SNAP participants across Stop & Shop’s five state reach – Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut, New York and New Jersey as well as delivery customers in New Hampshire.

Customers shopping online will be able to filter searches for SNAP eligible products, and apply their benefits at checkout. However, EBT cards can only be used for SNAP-eligible grocery items, and not for things such as fees, taxes or driver tips.

Adding an EBT payment option is absolutely a good thing to do. Providing greater access to grocery delivery can help alleviate food deserts in certain areas. Instacart has launched EBT payment options with ALDI, Publix, The Save Mart Companies and Price Chopper/Market 32. And last year, Amazon expanded the availability of EBT payments for groceries as well.

The outstanding issue for all of these services, however, is the payment of fees. Stop & Shop, for instance, charges $2.95 for pickup and $9.95 delivery fee for orders less than $100 (orders greater than $100 carry a $6.95 delivery fee). To really help bridge inequality and bring more equity to food availability, it would be nice if big retailers and well-funded delivery services did more to offset the costs of delivery and pickup for customers.

Misfits Market Expands Availability to Four More States

Misfits Market, the online grocer that specializes in rescuing food products that might otherwise be thrown out, announced the geographic expansion of its services to four more states today. Misfits now delivers to Arizona, Nebraska, New Mexico and Oklahoma, bringing its total coverage area to 43 states plus the District of Columbia.

Founded in 2018, Misfits Market works with farms, distributors and even airlines to source a sell perfectly good food that would otherwise go to waste, at a discount. The company started selling imperfect or “ugly” produce, and has steadily expanded into other categories like pantry and packaged goods. For packaged goods, for example, if a production run of olive oil wound up printed with upside down labels, Misfits sells those bottles rather than having them be discarded. When the pandemic hit last year and flights were shut down, Misfits was able to obtain and sell things like the cheese plates airlines would have had to throw out.

Earlier this year Misfits raised a $200 million Series C round of funding and added proteins to its offerings. Like with other categories, Misfits finds places in the supply chain where there is excess or waste. In the case of meats, there are often whole cuts that aren’t in “season” during a particular time of year, or trimmings that typically get discarded that the company rescues.

Mail order groceries have had a pretty banner year when it comes to funding. Fellow rescued food service, Imperfect Foods raised $110 million, and Weee!, an online grocer specializing in Asian and Hispanic Foods raised $315 million. Part of what drove all this investment interest in online grocers is, of course, the pandemic, which pushed people into e-commerce last year.

The bigger question surrounding ship-to-home grocers like Misfits and Imperfect is whether customers will stick around with the less convenient mail order delivery as the pandemic (eventually) recedes. Survey data from Brick Meets Click shows that online grocery shopping has declined in recent months, with most of the drop occurring in the mail-delivered category.

Misfits, however, said it continues to grow. During a video chat last week, Vice President, Growth & Analytics at Misfits Market, Kelly-Marie Bermudez, told me that the company is experience 5x growth in both active customers and order volume. Additionally, Bermudez said that Misfits rescued more than 170 million pounds of food in 2020, and has already exceeded that figure in the first half of 2021.

Shipt Now Lets You Pick Your Favorite Shopper

If you’ve ever had a good experience with an Uber driver, DoorDash delivery person, or pretty much any other gig worker, you instantly wish you could get them the next time you pick up the app.

Today Shipt announced it was going to let you do just that (kind of).

Shipt, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Target, today announced their new Preferred Shopping feature, which allows customers to create a list of their favorite shoppers and – provided they’re available – use one the favorites whenever the customer shops with Shipt.

Here’s how it works: If a customer has a good experience, they can rate at shopper at 5 stars and add them to a preferred shopper list. From there, the shopper gets a notice and can accept the “request” to be added to the list.

If the shopper accepts, Shipt will “prioritize” that shopper for the customer, so the two are paired (provided the shopper is available) the next time a customer opens the app.

Above: Customer and Shopper Screens for Preferred Shopper Program

Why a request? My guess is this gives the shopper a little control over whether they see a particular customer in the future since, let’s be honest, not all customers are great to work with.

It’s a nice feature, but why is Shipt going through all this trouble? Wouldn’t it be easier to pair whoever’s available with the customer? Yes, but apparently, pairing customers with preferred shoppers is good for business. Shipt’s trials showed that paired shoppers ordered more often, had higher overall satisfaction, and tipped more.

In a way, it’s not unlike asking for your favorite waiter at the corner restaurant. You develop a relationship with them, they take good care of you, tips get bigger, everyone’s happy.

Long term, however, I wonder where this goes. Do gig workers like personal shoppers start to develop essentially what equates to their own book of business? Does greater loyalty from the customer and the resulting financial benefit for shoppers lead to less turnover for the Shipt workforce?

Another question I have is whether Instacart, the 800-pound personal shopping gorilla, will go in this direction. While they’ve hinted at it as a possibility in the past, as of now, they’ve never made it happen.

But who knows? With Shipt offering the preferred shopper option, maybe Instacart will follow.