A new home-delivery business is about to launch in Cornwall with the might for the ‘big four’ supermarkets firmly in its sights.
The new ecommerce venture – cornishfoodmarket.co.uk – will offer shoppers access to a wide range of locally-produced food and drink.
Shoppers will be able to navigate through 3000 products – choosing among top quality wares of more than 100 local producers and more than 1000 other prime grocery and household items – all delivered free, Monday to Friday, for a minimum order of £12.50.
The ‘Buy Fresh, Buy Local’ ethos has already enticed hundreds of people to sign-up and register their interest in the run-up to its official launch at the Cornwall Food and Drink Festival at the end of September.
For Sean Williams, MD of cornishfoodmarket.co.uk ‘s parent company Westcountry Fruit Sales Ltd, this latest business development is a logical extension to the established family wholesale business.
He said: “Over many years in the business we’ve seen a ‘dislocation’ that’s occurred in the retail sector between local food production and local food buying as a result of the mass expansion of the supermarkets across the region.
“So many local high street food retailers – independent butchers, green-grocers, fishmongers – have been squeezed out of the marketplace over the last 20 years because they simply couldn’t compete. More recently we have seen the rapid expansion of the supermarkets’ home delivery fleets as convenience becomes the dominant factor in customers’ purchasing choice.
“We’ve been very aware, though, that there are so many people who really want to buy the best of local produce – and there are fantastic producers in Cornwall and Devon for whom it’s been almost impossible to find viable local markets. With cornishfoodmarket.co.uk we will re-establish the link between them – for the benefit of producers and consumers alike.”
Cornishfoodmarket.co.uk will be officially launched at the Cornwall Food and Drink Festival, for which it is a sponsor, running on Truro’s Lemon Quay from September 24-26.
