Sustainable Produce Urban Delivery (SPUD)—a marketplace dedicated to helping people access organic grocery online—has launched a warehouse facility for its fresh food delivery platform Food-X.
“The Food-X platform will enable Walmart Canada to launch sustainable grocery delivery, making it easier for Metro Vancouver families to get their groceries however and whenever they want.”
SPUD said the 74,000 square-foot facility in Vancouver utilizes proprietary technology to provide sustainable home food delivery for local and national grocery retailers. SPUD’s team has developed an algorithm that decreases packing time along with wasted space in packed orders, as well as picking software that uses AI to deliver instructions to warehouse packers and delivery route optimization software that utilizes real-time data. It serves the Metro Vancouver area.
“Food-X leverages technology and industry experience honed over the past 20 years under SPUD, which provides a sustainable home food delivery service to third-party retailers,” said Peter van Stolk, the CEO of Food-X and SPUD. “We know that sustainability works better when we can share resources and utilize technology. Food-X allows retailers to share warehouse space, infrastructure, and delivery trucks so there are fewer vehicles on the road per order. Think of Food-X as carpooling for your groceries.”
There’s been increasing activity in the grocery delivery space as of late. Walmart has been making several acquisitions and launches to keep up with e-commerce disruption including the purchase of retailer Jet.com and Flipkart in India.
“The Food-X platform will enable Walmart Canada to launch sustainable grocery delivery making it easier for Metro Vancouver families to get their groceries however and whenever they want,” said Daryl Porter, the vice president of omni-channel operations and online grocery at Walmart.
Once the Burnaby facility is operating at full capacity, Food-X plans to employ 500 team members in roles like tech, customer service, business development, operations, and finance which will support its national expansion. In the coming months, Food-X will service more retailers at their first facility, with plans to scale globally in the coming years.
“Sustainability will always be at the heart of Food-X and our unique platform offers a better, faster and more efficient fresh food delivery service,” said van Stolk. “We’re excited to offer our innovative retailers, like our launch partner Walmart Canada, a sustainable food delivery solution, and smaller independent grocers an option to scale online.”
