Giant Food to sell more local brands online

Dive Brief:

Giant Food is expanding its partnership with Washington D.C.’s Union Kitchen, a food and beverage accelerator, to offer locally produced products to Giant customers through its e-commerce platform, Giant Delivers.
The expansion includes three of Union Kitchen’s newest member brands: Walt’s Waffles, Spoil Me Rotten Dog Biscuits and Eat Pizza. These join eight original brands that were added to the platform in early May, including Compass Coffee, Revol Snax, Poppy’s Stuffed Bagels and Veggie Confetti.
The number of Union Kitchen products available for delivery through Giant Food now totals 27 and include a variety of breakfast items like coffee and bagels, as well as meal and snack items like empanadas, vegan pork rinds and keto snacks.

Dive Insight:

By including more local startups on its e-commerce platform, Landover, Maryland-based Giant Food hopes to reach customers that are shopping online and looking to support cottage brands.

The move also adds depth to the retailer's newly revamped e-commerce platform, which offers delivery and pickup services to more than 6 million shoppers across 330 zip codes in Washington, D.C., Maryland, Virginia and Delaware. Customers have options for flexible order windows, and same-day delivery service is available in some areas. The company also recently said it has expanded its online assortment to include items like plant-based foods.

In June, Giant merged its main site with its local Peapod delivery service to offer a more integrated experience for shoppers. Last year, the grocer rebranded its delivery service as Giant Delivers.

Union Kitchen, which operates five stores of its own in the D.C. area, incubates small brands through funding, production assistance and retail outreach. It has worked with retailers like Whole Foods in the past, and according to the most recent press release, 50% of the businesses it works with are owned by minorities and women.

In recent years, sourcing local products has become a focal point for grocers. Last year, Fairway Market started using a digital procurement system to source locally grown food. Around the same time, The Giant Company debuted shelf tags making it easier for customers to find products from Pennsylvania.