Popular food delivery company 7Krave has expanded its business and is now offering customers the option to buy and have groceries and other essentials delivered to them through its 7KraveMart.

Rory White, chief executive officer (CEO) of 7Krave, told the Jamaica Observer that over $20 million has so far been spent to roll-out the service. Partnering with some of the island’s major distributors including Wisynco, Cals, Nestle, Grace and Cari-Med, among several others, customers can now place order for retail and bulk goods across a long list of items or even take advantage of the option to shop by brand from its mobile app.

Following a recent soft launch of its newest business line, 7Krave, which has been in operation since 2015 and normally provides food deliveries for quick service companies including KFC and Pizza Hut and other eateries, says its venture into grocery services comes a result of it moving to double down on the boom in the delivery market seen since the novel coronavirus pandemic.

From a centralised warehouse in Kingston, the company said it has been sourcing, selling and delivering goods to customers who want to benefit from the convenience of not having to make in-person trips to the wholesale and supermarket.

“7Krave users in Kingston with the mobile app installed can access the mart section of the app and order groceries, market produce and even office supplies, with free delivery for orders over $5000, otherwise, customers will pay only $300 for delivery,” the company said in a news release.

Maurice Williams, brand manager of 7Krave, said that since the launch of the service, reception has been promising with orders reaching as much as 700 daily. Having significantly grown its customer base since the pandemic, the company, which currently services over 300,000 customers, now boasts over a million in food deliveries since its establishment, a success it is hoping to replicate with its 7KraveMart business to which it has so far dedicated some 10 of its approximately 170 delivery staff.

“We recognise how many people’s perspectives and practices shifted during the onset of the pandemic; so rather than getting comfortable, the team developed 7KraveMart to get into other areas of delivery as we offer added convenience. Customers won’t have to worry about their groceries being tossed together from all over town, or the delivery personnel shopping on your behalf making mistakes.

“We have processes in place to ensure all items are fresh, carefully packaged and distributed. Orders are being packaged and delivered throughout Kingston and St Andrew, straight to the customers’ doors in as little as 30 minutes or up to three hours,” Williams said.

“We have started out with some of the main staple items including rice, sugar, flour, beverages and other essentials and we are ever expanding on the variety we have by adding new products every day. We recently added the bulk option and we have been building that out. Our aim is to be cheaper than most, if not all, supermarkets. In offering our service at a really low rate, we cut out the middle man who normally sells his goods at a mark-up for profit; however, most of our benefit or profits directly comes from the delivery aspect,” he added.

Currently offering the service to mainly Kingston customers, plans are underway to further expand the 7KraveMart deliveries to other parishes.

“We will be going to different areas very soon, St Catherine is next and is to be followed by Ocho Rios and Montego Bay as we look to have warehouses across different parishes,” White further told Sunday Finance.