Farmdrop, the online marketplace that enables users to buy direct from local farms and food producers, has linked up with wine merchant Oddbins to expand its network of click and collect points across London.
The partnership will offer customers the chance to pick up their online orders from six London Oddbins stores: Kennington, East Dulwich, Kentish Town, West Hampstead, Balham and Clapham Common.
Farmdrop, which has a strong organic emphasis, alrady has 16 pick up points across the city as well as offering home delivery.
The award-winning online platform was founded by former Morgan Stanley stockbroker, Ben Pugh, and food industry specialist, Ben Patten, with a mission to “fix the food supply chain” by removing the supermarket middlemen.
The platform has more than 70 local producers serving London users ranging from Purton House, a mother and daughter run farm, to The London Jam Factory based in Highbury and supplying unusual varieties of jam such as Pear and Saffron and Blackberry and Mint. Its revenues have grown by over 230 per cent since moving to a mixture of home delivery and click and collect at the end of 2014.
Ben Pugh, co-founder of Farmdrop, comments: “We know that 50 per cent of our customers choose to get their orders dropped off at local outlets so we’re delighted to partner with Oddbins to expand our list of collection points, making it easier for our users to enjoy the very best local food direct from local producers.”
Emma Shaw from Oddbins comments: “We share Farmdrop’s values, love its service and are delighted to be a drop off partner – not least because we are sure its customers will want to pick up a bottle of wine to accompany their quality, fresh food.”
Farmdrop launched after raising a record £750,000 on crowd-funding platform CrowdCube and is backed by a number of technology entrepreneurs including Alex Chesterman, founder of Zoopla property business and LOVEFiLM, Quentin Griffiths, co-founder of ACHICA and ASOS and Breet Akker, founder of LoveSpace and Street Car.
