Issue date: Nov 14, 1999

Back to FOOD Special Report: Choices 2000

eeping food fresh for delivery is tricky, and cyber sales may never top 5% of total food sales, but electronic grocery shopping is here to stay. Industry analysts see e-grocery sales ringing up $3.5 billion by 2002. Pull up a virtual grocery cart and try these five food Web sites. Each targets an important food trend.

To get Latin sabor (flavor)
latingrocer.com
Armando Gutierrez and his partners in Miami came upon the idea for an online bodega after friends complained that they couldn't find authentic Cuban products at their local supermarkets. The first Internet purveyor of Hispanic-flavored groceries offers 1,200 products. Consider this: The U.S. Hispanic population is booming -- 31 million today, up 38% from 1990, vs. 9% for the total population. By 2050, Hispanics will be the nation's largest minority group. "I think the future is the Internet," Gutierrez says, "no matter what community you're in."

To get personalized service
peapod.com
With more than 45,000 items to select from, Peapod specializes in picking fresh foods (stored in four warehouses) and delivering them within two hours. Peapod packages can be sent nationwide; "pickers" are now in eight areas (check availability by ZIP code at the Web site). Founder Andrew Parkinson created a new grocery architecture online: Dynamic Web pages let shoppers view 3-D grocery packages; read ingredients and nutrition labels; and sort by calories, fat and price. "Buddy mail" sends e-mail to household members to add to the shopping list.

To save money
valupage.com
Site operator Supermarkets Online offers printout coupons you redeem for "Web bucks," used like cash on your next shopping trip at any of more than 10,000 supermarkets. Average saving: $2 per trip. Coupons have a 75% redemption rate (vs. newspaper coupons' under 4%).

For produce
urbanorganic.com
Founder Charles Piggott's customers' taste buds get zing along with the required five servings of fruits and vegetables each day. Urban Organic delivers a weekly assortment (16-18 items) of the freshest organic fruits and vegetables available, and ships them with nutrition information and recipes to your door in a temperature-controlled package via two-day UPS delivery.

To save time
streamline.com
Think of Streamline as a butler who does errands for $30 a month (plus the cost of products bought). Time saved each week: three hours. Services include flowers, film processing, dry cleaning, shoe repair, stamps, pet supplies, takeout food, video rentals. In Washington, D.C., Boston and, next spring, metro New York.