Welcoming the FoodStorm Team to Instacart!

As a retailer enablement platform, Instacart is focused on growing our partners’ businesses by investing in innovative new technologies and services that deliver significant value to them and their customers.

One area that we know is a meaningful growth opportunity for retailers is prepared order-ahead technology. On the Instacart platform, customers who purchase prepared foods and catering items like hot and cold side dishes, cakes and sushi from the grocery store have significantly larger baskets and shop more frequently than those customers who do not. For retailers, order-ahead items and prepared foods are also more profitable than traditional groceries like produce and packaged goods.  

But, today, ordering prepared meals is still largely an offline experience. Most grocers still manage these orders using spreadsheets and pen and paper. And, if a customer wants to order ahead, they’ll have to pick up the phone or physically walk into the store. This is a labor intensive and inefficient process, often resulting in missed sales opportunities for retailers and a cumbersome customer experience. 

That’s why we’re excited to announce that we’ve acquired FoodStorm, an order management system (OMS) that powers end-to-end order-ahead and catering experiences for grocery retailers. FoodStorm has developed a comprehensive SaaS offering that covers multi-channel ordering – ecommerce, phone or in-store kiosk – order management, and payment and fulfillment. Its technology also integrates easily with a large variety of third-party systems including point of service systems (POS), and offers CRM capabilities that help grocers collect feedback, market their offerings and leverage promotional features. FoodStorm already works with a number of Instacart’s existing retail partners including Albertsons Companies banners Balducci’s and Kings Food Markets, as well as Bi-Rite Market, Mollie Stone’s Markets, Uncle Giuseppe’s and Roche Brothers. 

By integrating FoodStorm’s technology into Instacart’s leading enterprise offering, we’re able to help our retail partners increase their sales, enhance their ecommerce capabilities and ensure more of their customers’ everyday meals come from the grocery store. And, for customers, this unlocks a healthier, more affordable alternative to restaurant delivery – creating an easier way for people to order prepared foods online directly from their favorite grocers.

Importantly, in addition to acquiring FoodStorm’s impressive technology, we’re also thrilled to welcome the talented FoodStorm team to Instacart! The team is based in the U.S. and Melbourne, Australia. Together, we’re excited to create new ways for retailers to solve for the ever-changing needs of their businesses and customers.

With this acquisition, Instacart is expanding its enterprise technology portfolio and investing in more innovative technology solutions that help retailers grow, compete, and better meet the evolving needs of their customers. Instacart’s enterprise technology today powers the comprehensive ecommerce platforms of more than 175 local, regional and national grocers across North America, including Costco Canada, Heinen’s, Sprouts, The Fresh Market, and Wegmans. 

To learn more about our FoodStorm acquisition, you can read the full press release here. 

Instacart

Instacart is the leading grocery technology company in North America, partnering with more than 1,400 national, regional, and local retail banners to deliver from more than 80,000 stores across more than 14,000 cities in North America. To read more Instacart posts, you can browse the company blog or search by keyword using the search bar at the top of the page.