Online Grocer Farmstead Opens Waitlist Ahead of Miami Expansion

California-based online grocer Farmstead is coming to Miami, and has opened a waitlist for those interested in being among the first to try its app-based free delivery services.

One of the first online grocers in the U.S. to expand nationwide, Farmstead aims to separate itself from the competition by using AI technology to offer fresh, high-quality items delivered for free — and often at lower prices than local supermarkets. The goal: reinvent the grocery-shopping experience to make high-quality, locally sourced food accessible to everyone while simultaneously reducing food waste.

“Miami needs an option like Farmstead. Other grocery-delivery services come with high markups and fees, but Farmstead makes grocery delivery less expensive than going to the store yourself, putting delivery within reach of most households," Farmstead founder and CEO Pradeep Elankumaran tells New Times.

The company launched in San Francisco in 2018, and also serves Charlotte, North Carolina. In late 2020, it opened a waitlist in Raleigh and in Nashville, Tennessee.

The Farmstead Miami waitlist signup is available to the first 1,000 customers on a first-come, first-served basis. Customers can sign up for the Miami waitlist by visiting farmstead.vip/miami. Service is slated to begin in late March or early April and will be available to most of Miami-Dade County as well as parts of Broward.

Elankumaran says the Farmstead model is able to keep prices low by sourcing directly from wholesalers while leveraging proprietary technology to increase efficiency.

"The online grocery system is very broken and doesn’t give the majority of grocery shoppers their time or money back," the Farmstead CEO explains. "Worse, the products you typically get at supermarkets tend to be grown or made far away and are less fresh. Farmstead prioritizes locally sourced products whenever and wherever possible, especially when they’re in season, while cutting food waste dramatically lower than most supermarket chains."

In addition, customers can receive a five percent discount on products they buy on a regular basis.

Farmstead makes use of so-called dark warehouses to execute its business model, which saves on labor costs. The company employs nearly 100 people per region, and can stock and deliver 3,000 to 5,000 different items, including prominent local brands and fresh produce, meats, seafood, and dairy.

In Florida, Farmstead promises to offer Floribbean prepared foods, Jennifer’s Homemade Breadsticks and Flatbread, and Zak the Baker breads offered alongside products from Kraft and Nabisco and familiar Latin brands like Goya, Café Bustelo, El Latino, Mariquitas, and Fabuloso. (Local brands interested in joining Farmstead can visit this link to apply.)

The company offers multiple delivery windows every day, allowing drivers to deliver via eco-friendly routes, batching their stops by neighborhood.

Service is expected to begin in late March or early April. The company has plans to ramp up service quickly to include more customers for a total capacity of about 4,000 deliveries per day across a 30-to-50-mile radius.

"We are targeting households that currently shop at several different stores each week. Farmstead wants to be the single source for a household’s grocery needs," Elankumaran says.

Farmstead. farmsteadapp.com.