Grocery Outpost — Enabling Local Restaurants

Turning local restaurants into a distribution network of pickup and hyper-local delivery hubs for restaurant crafted meals and groceries.

The Problem

Grocery Outpost was founded in response to the alarming Harvard Business Review statistic that 70% of restaurants won’t make it through the COVID-19 shut down. Their goal is to help local, independently owned restaurants survive the pandemic and thrive in its aftermath.

What the Company Does

Grocery Outpost enables restaurants to participate in the rapidly growing home grocery economy as both suppliers and fulfillment partners. This turns restaurants into the solution for the 1.5 trillion dollar US grocery market, which is struggling to keep up with expanding online ordering and last-mile fulfillment. Grocery Outpost will benefit from its focus on small and local businesses, as well as the allure of convenience for its consumers to pick up groceries closer to their homes. Their business model is to generate revenue through commission of grocery and restaurant products sold through the platform.

Market

The U.S.’s growing 1.5 trillion grocery retail market saw a 22% increase of online sales in 2019 and is expected to see a further 40% increase in online sales this year due to nationwide COVID-19 lockdowns. Additionally, the percentage of consumers who have made an online grocery purchase has soared from 23.1% in 2018 to 52% in the first quarter of 2020. The grocery market has mammoth incumbents including Walmart, Target, Costco and Amazon, as well as a number of more niche companies like Instacart, Misfits and Blue Apron.

Traction

Since launching in May, Grocery Outpost has expanded to 12 restaurant pickup locations, serviced over 700 households, and has been accepted in the Harvard iLab’s alumni accelerator, LLX GEO, and the Pillar VC Frequency program.

Founding Team

Co-founder Ethan Pierce launched his first start-up, Palette, after graduating Harvard College. Since then, Ethan has led product design at Fincura and Vistaprint, and participated in accelerators like Techstars Boston as Design Product Lead for Spring 2020 and MassChallenge judge and mentor. After studying sociology at Whitman, co-founder Emma Snyder worked as an early employee at Society of Grownups, Impact Hub and most recently, Toast. At Toast, she started as a relationship manager to 80+ restaurant accounts, before creating her own product roles in customer empathy and user research.

What They Need Help With

Grocery Outpost is currently in growth mode. They are also looking for new restaurant partners and customers. They are offering Buzz subscribers $10 off their first order using code AUTUMN10. Connect with the Grocery Outpost team.

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