Shoppers flood click-and-collect

Grocers warn of food delivery delays amid high demand,

As more and more Canadians do their part to flatten the COVID-19 curve by staying home, grocery delivery and click-and-collect services are seeing unprecedented demand, leading to delays in muchneeded food deliveries. Toronto resident Matt Spencer found this out the hard way upon returning from a family vacation to Cuba on March 21. He ordered from Grocery Gateway the same day, knowing he and his family had to selfisolate for 14 days, and was told his order wouldn’t arrive until April 2.

“There is food here and we can make it through if we have to, but I mean it won’t be ideal,” Spencer said, adding the family is running out of fresher things like milk and eggs.

He said he’s glad he stocked up on some essentials before going on vacation.

Spencer, who has two young sons, said he tried a few delivery services, but they all warned of similar delays.

One delay he was thankful he didn’t have: his wine and beer order, which he said arrived within an hour. A spokesperson f or Metro, with operates more than 950 stores in Ontario and Quebec including Food Basics, said in an email the company is seeing “overwhelming demand” for delivery, and that it is working to increase capacity to mitigate the demand and decrease delays.

In an open letter to customers, Metro president and CEO Eric La Flèche said while the company’s supply chain is strong, shoppers should be mindful of their orders so as not to cause shortages for others. “We are continuing to increase our online grocery capacity to serve the people in our communities who need it most. But we ask that you use this service responsibly as well.”

Loblaws said it has increased staffing for its PC Express pickup and delivery service, and eliminated pickup fees.

“We are managing the rising number of orders and are ramping up our systems as quickly as possible so that our customers can shop online with confidence,” a spokesperson said in an email, adding that shoppers will see wait times of “a few days” depending on location.

Instacart, a third-party grocery delivery service, said in an emailed statement that it plans to hire 300,000 more shoppers over the next three months to deal with increased demand, more than doubling its current shopper cohort.

The company has seen its order volume grow by more than 150 per cent in the past couple of weeks, and is seeing a surge in new customers as well.

Instacart’s spokesperson said the company is also seeing an uptick in orders for others, where customers order groceries for a friend or family member.

As for Spencer, he’s planning ahead, anticipating the delays to continue for a month or more.

“My plan is … once the groceries arrive, order the next batch,” he said.