Chicago curb-side only online grocer Fresh Street makes debut
In the wake of a flood of ultra-fast grocery delivery startups, fledgling online grocer Fresh Street is taking a different approach: pickup-only.
Stopping on the way home to pick up groceries may soon feel like a NASCAR pit stop for some Chicago-area shoppers.
Online grocery startup Fresh Street is launching Friday from a 10,000-square-foot former clothing store in a West Rogers Park strip mall, hoping to carve out a new niche in the booming digital grocery industry by focusing exclusively on expedited curbside pickup, so-called click and collect.
The concept is simple: no in-store shopping, no delivery service and three times the curbside capacity of a typical bricks-and-mortar grocery store. Customers can schedule a pickup in as soon as 30 minutes, pull into a designated parking space, pop their trunk and drive off with their groceries.
“We’re focused on faster turnaround times, better availability, getting people in and out of their parking spot quicker — we should be able to do that in under a minute,” said Mike Sayles, 33, co-founder and CEO of Fresh Street, who previously headed up sales for Chicago-based Ferrara Candy. “If we’re doing our jobs well, you’re interacting with us as little as possible.”