Grocery stores can now offer online catering ordering and delivery through Instacart using FoodStorm’s order management system, which the online grocery provider acquired last fall.
Uncle Giuseppe’s Marketplace is the first retailer to connect their FoodStorm OMS directly with their Instacart App storefront, allowing customers across New York and New Jersey to easily place catering orders online, while streamlining the process for store associates to manage orders.
FoodStorm can be integrated with the Instacart App further extending Carrot Order Ahead, an Instacart Platform solution. Carrot Order Ahead enables a variety of fulfillment options, including next-day or scheduled in advance delivery and pickup, so grocers can offer their customers a more convenient way to order catering and prepared foods on their Instacart App storefront or their white label ecommerce storefronts.
The integration between FoodStorm and the Instacart App now means customers can order grocery items—such as beverages, paperware or side dishes—directly alongside their catering order for delivery.
“Catering represents one of the highest margin categories for grocers, driving meaningful incremental growth for their business as consumer demand increases. In the first half of 2022, we’ve seen nearly a 20 percent increase in customers searching for ‘catering’ on Instacart (and retailer-operated sites) compared to the same period last year,” said Jeanette Barlow, vice president of product at Instacart. “Historically, ordering ahead from the grocery store is labor intensive—often using paper tickets or other manual systems—and inefficient for both retailers and customers. By connecting FoodStorm OMS with the Instacart App, we’re able to help grocers meet catering demand by offering a comprehensive, omnichannel experience for customers using Carrot Order Ahead and scale the reach of a highly profitable part of their business.”
“Instacart Platform technology has helped more customers discover our catering selection, resulting in incremental sales for this important part of our business,” said Russell McVeigh, Catering Director at Uncle Giuseppe’s Marketplace. “During the busy holiday season when catering and prepared foods are in peak demand, we’ve been able to grow our online sales by nearly 62 percent by having the right infrastructure in place to handle that volume without crippling our in-store operations or without having to scale our staff.”
