Canada’s first “fresh food delivery platform facility” – known as Food-X – is set to open next week in south Burnaby.
The 74,000-square-foot mega-warehouse, located south of Marine Way, is being opened by Sustainable Produce Urban Delivery Inc., SPUD for short.
The facility “utilizes proprietary technology to provide sustainable home food delivery for local and national grocery retailers,” said a news release.
The launch of the platform introduces an e-commerce grocery delivery solution.
“Food-X leverages technology and industry experience honed over the past 20 years under SPUD, which provides a sustainable home food delivery service to third-party retailers,” said Peter van Stolk, CEO of Food-X and SPUD. “We know that sustainability works better when we can share resources and utilize technology. Food-X allows retailers to share warehouse space, infrastructure and delivery trucks so there are fewer vehicles on the road per order. Think of Food-X as carpooling for your groceries.” Â
The technology includes the “rapid pack algorithm” that decreases packing time along with wasted space in packed orders, picking software that uses AI to deliver instructions to warehouse packers, and proprietary delivery route optimization software that utilizes real-time data with an end goal of lowering retailers’ overall carbon footprint.
“These technologies enable Food-X to deliver fresh food for their retail customers across Metro Â鶹´«Ă˝Ół»faster, more sustainably and with less plastic,” said the company. “Similar technology-based solutions have helped SPUD lower their food waste to 0.5%, the lowest of any grocery store in Canada.”
The Food-X platform will be used by Walmart Canada to launch grocery delivery for Metro Â鶹´«Ă˝Ół»shoppers.
Once the Burnaby facility is operating at full capacity, Food-X says it plans to employ 500 people in such roles as tech, customer service, business development, operations and finance which will support its national expansion.
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