The huge rise in demand for food home deliveries has prompted one Welsh retailer to launch a consolidated delivery service for store cupboard items and fresh produce essentials – all sourced directly from small businesses in Wales.
DiscoverDelicious.Wales is an online multi-vendor marketplace specifically for Welsh food and drink producers and experience providers, allowing them to sell directly to consumers, nationwide.
Until now, customers have been able to use the site to browse and purchase from multiple Welsh producers in one easy transaction, but each delivery was separately fulfilled by the respective producers on a drop-ship basis.
Now, in response to the COVID-19 outbreak, Discover Delicious will be working in partnership with North Wales business Blas ar Fwyd who will act as a fulfilment house to offer a consolidated delivery service for some of the more essential food and drink products listed on the site.
A new ‘Food Hall’ section of DiscoverDelicious.Wales signals the items which are available for consolidated delivery. The selection includes dairy, bakery & store cupboard essentials as well as speciality foods, sweet treats, craft beers, cider and spirits.
Orders from this part of the site will arrive in one delivery at a cost of £12 per delivery, (with free delivery for orders over £45).
Discover Delicious founder Laura Pickup said “When we launched DiscoverDelicious.Wales back in 2018, the number one driving force was to support the incredible community of independent food and drink producers in Wales.
These are the same businesses that provide local jobs and that reinvest their profits back into local communities. Many rely heavily on local farmer’s markets, food festivals and restaurant orders to reach their customers – most of which are currently cancelled or closed.”
Osian Deiniol from Blas ar Fwyd continued “We hope that this new partnership between Blas ar Fwyd and Discover Delicious will go some way to help our independent producers through this hard time whilst also giving customers a chance to continue backing independent Welsh brands.”
Amongst the brands available for consolidated delivery are Eccentric Gin (Cardiff) Caws Cenarth (Carmarthenshire), and Halen Mon (Anglesey).
Also listed on the site are Hallets Cider, a family business based at Blaengawney Farm just outside Newport. They have built up an excellent reputation for producing award winning ciders, and would normally be heading into a busy summer season supplying food festivals, farmers markets and outdoor events.
Annie Hallet, co-owner and co-founder of Hallets Cider, stressed the importance of being able to sell their products online whilst all of their usual activity is on hold.
She explained, “Like many alcohol producers, we have been hugely affected by the closure of pubs and restaurants – it has been devastating. So unusually for us, are having to now focus on sales directly to the public. Being able to still get our cider into our usual customer’s hands will be absolutely crucial to our survival as a business.
This initiative from Discover Delicious offers a great way for people to continue to support independent Welsh businesses like ours who are really feeling the pressure at the moment – and hopefully, focusing on online sales will help us to make it through to the other side.”
