The Rise of Ultra-Fast Grocery Delivery

The Food Programme

BBC

Arts, Food

4.4 • 943 Ratings

🗓️ 26 December 2021

⏱️ 29 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Leyla Kazim dives into the world of rapid grocery delivery, one of the newest trends to hit the world of food retail. In scarcely more than a year, a wave of new companies like Getir, Weezy, Gorillas, Jiffy, Zapp and Gopuff has arrived in cities across the UK which can deliver products to your door in as little as 10 minutes. It’s a sector that’s raised billions of pounds of investment and wants to disrupt the grocery market – so what impact could it have on the way we buy food?

Key to the ultra-fast delivery speeds are 'dark stores', or hyperlocal fulfilment centres, which have been growing in number since the start of the pandemic – Leyla visits one run by Gorillas, and talks to their UK General Manager Eddie Lee about their plans for expansion. To consider the future of the rapid grocery delivery companies and what impact they are having on the rest of the food retail world, we hear from: Matt Truman, co-founder and CEO of specialist retail and consumer investor, True; Chris Noice, Communications Director at the Association of Convenience Stores; George Nott, Technology Editor at The Grocer; and Professor Annabelle Gower, Director of the Centre of Digital Economy at the University of Surrey.

Presented by Leyla Kazim and produced by Sophie Anton for BBC Audio in Bristol.

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	You don't need us to tell you there's a general election coming.
0:04.7	So what does it mean for you?
0:06.7	Every day on newscast we dissect the big talking points, the ones that you want to know more about.
0:12.4	With our book of contacts, we talk directly to the people you want to hear from.
0:16.8	And with help from some of the best BBC journalists,
0:19.5	we'll untangle the stories that matter to you.
0:23.0	Join me, Laura Kunsberg, Adam Fleming, Chris Mason and Patty O'Connell for our daily
0:28.4	podcast.
0:29.4	Newscast, listen on BBC Sounds. BBC Sounds. BBC Sounds, music radio podcasts.
0:38.0	Hello, you've downloaded a podcast of BBC Radio 4's The Food Programme.
0:43.0	Welcome to our world, from cooking to culture, politics to pleasure.
0:48.0	We hope you enjoy it.
0:50.0	I'm on a very busy road in the middle of London and just now two delivery drivers on
0:56.7	scooters have just come past me with company branding on them that I wouldn't have
1:01.0	seen a year ago.
1:02.6	These are the brands of rapid grocery delivery apps,
1:07.3	many of which have cropped up in the past few months.
1:10.6	I'm standing outside one of their dark stores which are central to the operations of these new services
1:17.7	inside which all the magic happens I'm going to go into one now and find out more.
1:24.0	Welcome to the food program That Place for Hungry Minds.
1:27.0	I'm Leila Kacim.
1:28.0	The new fleet of delivery riders on the streets of our cities
	...

Please login to see the full transcript.

Previous episode | Next episode

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from BBC, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of BBC and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.