Today in food commerce, SpartanNash, a grocer and food distributor with ties to Amazon, buys up a regional northwestern Michigan grocery chain, while Wonder, a food delivery startup from Jet’s Marc Lore, announces a $350 million Series B funding round. Plus, Anjali Naik, chief operating officer and co-founder of Grubhub’s robotic campus delivery partner Cartken, discusses the possibility of peer-to-peer (P2P) robotic food and beverage deliveries.
Amazon-Linked Grocer SpartanNash Plucks up Existing Supermarkets
Grand Rapids, Michigan-based SpartanNash, has announced that it has acquired northwestern Michigan grocery chain Shop-N-Save Food Centers, which has three stores in the region, converting them to SpartanNash’s Family Fare brand. SpartanNash is a publicly traded food distributor and retailer with ties to Amazon, and it is growing its retail footprint by buying up existing grocery brands.
Bain-led, $350M Funding Round Signals Next-Gen Food Delivery Has Arrived
As consumers increasingly expect to get their needs met on demand, food delivery is evolving beyond the aggregator. Wonder, for one, a mobile restaurant startup founded and helmed by Jet’s Marc Lore, has raised $350 million in a Series B funding round led by Bain Capital Ventures.
Grubhub Robotics Partner Predicts the P2P Future of Automated Delivery
Anjali Naik, chief operating officer and co-founder of Cartken, explains in an interview with PYMNTS that the company sees robotics not as a full replacement for human delivery drivers and couriers but rather as a complement and discusses the P2P future of automated deliveries.