A lot of folks want to sell you food, but one pioneering option is going the way of the old-fashioned cash register, at least in our neck of the woods.
Peapod is closing down its Midwest operations covering Wisconsin, Illinois, and Indiana. That means those of you who used the service to buy and receive groceries online won’t have that option as of Tuesday.
50,000 of us did, placing some 10,500 orders each week.
As reported in the Chicago Tribune, Chicago-based peapod closes a distribution and food prep facility in Lake Zurich, a pick-up point in Palatine and distribution facilities in Milwaukee, Chicago and Indianapolis, moves that affect some 400 employees, not to mention 100 drivers and 30 folks who work in Peapod’s office in the West Loop.
Peapod’s Midwest issues included the fact it was online only and didn’t have a network of stores to connect to the supply chain, making it more difficult to get new customers who want to know the grocery brand where their fresh food was coming from.
The move comes as grocery delivery heats up. The market doubled in value to $26 billion dollars as of 2018, with some projections saying it will hit $100 billion in five years. Peapod will continue on the East Coast where its battling Instacart and Amazon who experts say did a better job of delivery.
Industry experts told the Tribune that the only deficiency of Peapod’s operations was that it would take longer for delivery – but that was enough to affect their business to this level.
