Big Feed Club bringing grocery delivery program to Clarenville, Bonavista Peninsula
'If you can make it easy for people to order local, they will,' says co-founder
A St. John's-based company is expanding its food distribution business to Clarenville and the Bonavista Peninsula.
Big Feed Club, started by Brad Russell and Jamie Heath during the COVID-19 pandemic, provides door-to-door grocery delivery through a website, bringing products from local producers and big box stores like Costco to people who aren't able to easily access them.
The group partnered with DRL Coach Lines in 2022, and Russell says since then they've delivered more than 10,000 boxes of food across Newfoundland.
"We analyzed the different areas that we wanted to expand to first, and we realized that, you know, getting to a grocery store on a lot of parts of the Bonavista Peninsula is challenging. You know, if you had to do a drive from St. John's to Bonavista and back, you're looking at six hours," Russell told The St. John's Morning Show.
"So we wanted to make sure that we serviced areas that are tough to be able to get fresh produce on the regular."
Russell said the group has partnered with Shirran's Taxi for deliveries in Bonavista, charging $15 for deliveries under $100. Delivery costs can also depend on your postal code, he said, but added the delivery cost is part of the price people see on the website.
The group plans to expand to the Burin Peninsula in the near future.
Russell said he hopes the site will help people think about how food is distributed in Newfoundland and Labrador, given the logistic and geographic challenges of trying to get goods to some of the more remote areas.
"Moving food, or moving anything around this province, is very, very difficult, especially when you get into perishable goods. So I think that we need to see a lot more collaboration between food distributors and folks that want to see more local food moved around this province," he said.
"If you can make it easy for people to order local, they will."
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With files from The St. John's Morning Show and CBC Newfoundland Morning
