Farmstead Grows No-Fee, Same-Day Grocery Delivery

Online grocer Farmstead, known for its no-fee delivery, has expanded its service 30 minutes south of San Francisco to the city of Half Moon Bay, Calif. Using Farmstead, residents can get local brands such as Straus (with free bottle pickup), Cowgirl Creamery, Acme Bread (baked each morning), and Casa Sanchez, in addition to national brands such as Kraft, plus fresh, locally sourced produce.

“We had numerous requests from Half Moon Bay residents to expand our service there — they had few choices for grocery stores, and only high-fee options for delivery,” explained Sara Custer, head of operations at Burlingame, Calif.-based Farmstead. “Since we have a dark store in the area, we were able to spin up new service for Half Moon Bay quickly. We’re proud to bring this new option to Half Moon Bay residents.”

According to the company, Farmstead stands out from other offerings by leveraging proprietary AI technology and a dark-store model — delivery-centric warehouses that generally serve a 50-mile radius — to maximize efficiency and reduce costs. As a result, Farmstead offers prices comparable to or lower than most supermarkets, but with free delivery to doorstep.

Customers can place one-off orders, or become subscribers, with a regular delivery slot each week. They can choose a two-hour same-day delivery slot, or sign up for a sustainable weekly route, meaning that Farmstead will deliver with other orders in the same neighborhood to reduce carbon emissions.

Farmstead is growing quickly, with plans to expand nationwide to a primarily suburban, mid-market audience.

Using its AI technology, Farmstead is helping reinvent the grocery-buying experience and rewire how food moves across the country to significantly reduce food waste and fulfill its mission of making high-quality, locally sourced food accessible to everyone. The company offers this same technology stack, Grocery OS, to grocers wishing to improve operations and compete more effectively against dominant e-commerce players.

For example, online grocer Farm Link Hawaii recently adopted Farmstead’s Grocery OS to help automate key parts of its operations, among them procurement, picking and packing, delivery route optimization, and the customer ordering process. The solution enables Farm Link Hawaii to drive profitable online orders and compete against major e-commerce players.