BURLINGAME, Calif.–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Farmstead, the first online grocer to offer fresh, high-quality groceries, delivered for free, at better prices than local supermarkets, announced today that Linda K. Lee has joined the executive team as Head of Business Development where she will focus on helping regional grocers improve margins for curbside pickup and grocery delivery in order to more effectively compete in an increasingly online world.
Ms. Lee was Head of Carrier Partnerships at WhatsApp, which was acquired by Facebook where she subsequently led Strategic Partnerships for Messenger. Earlier, she was Senior Legal Director at Yahoo!.
“Linda Lee embodies a rare combination of broad business acumen, a keen strategic mind, and a passion for social good and impact, and we are thrilled that she’s joined Farmstead,” said Pradeep Elankumaran, co-founder & CEO of Farmstead. “She has a broad mandate to engage on all grocery e-commerce related fronts. A major focus of hers will be to help regional grocers gain the economic benefits of Grocery OS, Farmstead’s proprietary system for order procurement, inventory management and delivery route optimization. Grocers can use Grocery OS to replace the often manual processes by which they are currently fulfilling online or telephone orders, and instead of losing money on these orders, they can make these transactions profitable.”
“The ability for Farmstead to have such a positive impact on the average US grocery shopper through its same-as-store prices, fresher food and fast delivery attracted me to the Farmstead opportunity, and in particular the role I can have in bringing grocers and others into an increasingly impactful ecosystem,” said Ms. Lee. “This has been a trying time for most grocers who because of the pandemic have been forced into eCommerce completely unprepared. To make matters worse, they’re having to compete for this online business with some of the largest players in the online world. Grocery OS can help.”
Farmstead, which last week announced a national partnership with DoorDash to provide one-hour delivery in the markets it serves, also enables grocers to list their own brands powered by dark locations on DoorDash’s app and websites for one-hour delivery, increasing their reach and simplifying delivery operations.
With active hubs in the Bay Area, Charlotte and Raleigh-Durham, N.C., Farmstead has announced upcoming openings in Nashville, Tenn., and Miami, and plans to open in at least 13 more markets this year.
Farmstead is known for leveraging proprietary AI technology and a dark store model – delivery-centric warehouses that serve a 50-mile radius, delivering many thousands of orders per day – to maximize efficiency and reduce costs. As a result, Farmstead offers grocery shoppers prices comparable to or lower than most supermarkets, but with free delivery to doorstep. The company is growing quickly, with plans to expand nationwide to a primarily mid-market audience.
About Farmstead
Farmstead is the first online grocer to offer fresh, high-quality groceries, delivered for free, at better prices than local supermarkets. Using AI technology, Farmstead has reinvented the grocery buying experience and rewired how food moves across the country, to significantly reduce food waste and fulfill its mission of making high quality, locally sourced food accessible to everyone. Visit https://www.farmsteadapp.com or follow @farmsteadapp.