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Farmdrop
IndustryFood
Founded2012; 12 years ago (2012)
FounderBen Pugh[1][2][3]
Defunct17 December 2021; 3 years ago (2021-12-17)
FateBankrupted
Headquarters
London
,
England
Area served
London
Key people
Eleanor Herrin, CEO
ProductsFoods
ServicesOnline grocer – food ordering and delivery
Revenue£3.9 M (2018)
Number of employees
214 [4] (2020)

Farmdrop was an online grocer with a focus on farm-to-table food sourced from local farmers, fishermen, and other producers;[5][6] as well as ethically sourced household products.[7]

On 17 December 2021 Farmdrop collapsed following a failure to secure additional funding.[8]

History

Farmdrop was founded by Ben Pugh, a former stockbroker for Morgan Stanley, in 2012. In December 2015, the company had 20 employees, and in April 2016 worked with around 80 food producers. As of April 2018, it was working with 450 producers. Farmdrop had a mobile app that consumers used to interface with the company.[9]

The earliest work in forming Farmdrop began with Pugh meeting local farmers at their farms to acquire prospective producers to work with the company.[10] Various foods including organic foods could be ordered online and delivered.[10][11][12] Farmers and fishermen received a higher percentage of the retail price using Farmdrop because no middlemen were involved in the supply chain.[a][5][10][14] In March 2017, the company had around 30,000 active users.[9]

In 2016, the company received £3 million in funding. In April 2017, the company received another £7 million.[15][16] In June 2018, the company raised another £10 million.[17]

In September 2016, Farmdrop began providing its "Farmology" education campaign, which provided information to consumers about the origins of foods.[18]

In March 2019, an ad from the company featuring a mix of fresh produce, bacon, eggs and butter, was rejected by TfL due to its updated regulation on high in fat, sugar and salt foods and how they are advertised in the London Underground.[19] A debate ensued, with Farmdrop raising questions around the scoring system used to determine what is healthy food.[20] The company declared it fully supported "preventing brands from aggressively advertising junk food to children".[21]

In December 2021, the company collapsed due to the inability to secure sufficient capital to continue operating.[22][23][24]

See also

Notes

  1. ^ "As of 2016, farmers and producers were given an average of 70 per cent of sale revenue through Farmdrop as opposed to 30 per cent from supermarkets."[13]

References

  1. ^ Clawson, Trevor. "A Moment Of Transition - The Realities Of Taking Over From A Founder". Forbes. Retrieved 24 July 2020.
  2. ^ Smith, Sophie (19 November 2019). "'I don't know why supermarkets find it so hard to go plastic-free': New chief of Farmdrop boxes clever". The Telegraph. ISSN 0307-1235. Retrieved 24 July 2020.
  3. ^ O'Hear, Steve (14 June 2018). "Farmdrop picks up £10M Series B". TechCrunch. Retrieved 24 July 2020.
  4. ^ "FarmDrop profile", Craft, retrieved 13 August 2019
  5. ^ a b Carolan, M.S. (2017). No One Eats Alone: Food as a Social Enterprise. Island Press. pp. 128–132. ISBN 978-1-61091-804-6. Retrieved 26 October 2017.
  6. ^ "The Great British Box Off: which veg box is best for quality and value?". The Telegraph. 3 March 2017. Retrieved 3 November 2017.
  7. ^ "This man has created an app that could be the beginning of the end for supermarkets". The Independent. 3 March 2017. Retrieved 26 July 2017.
  8. ^ Jones, Rupert (17 December 2021). "Online grocer Farmdrop goes bust and cancels Christmas deliveries". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 18 August 2023.
  9. ^ a b Rodionova, Zlata (3 March 2017). "Farmdrop: This app could stop shoppers going to supermarkets for groceries". The Independent. Retrieved 26 October 2017.
  10. ^ a b c Brouwer, Lotte (19 October 2015). "A man on a mission: How Farmdrop is fixing the food chain". Country & Town House Magazine. Retrieved 31 October 2016.
  11. ^ Cohen, Claire (27 March 2014). "Word of mouth: FarmDrop, bringing local food to the masses". The Telegraph. Retrieved 31 October 2016.
  12. ^ Scott, Sue (17 April 2016). "Online farm produce company enjoys rapid growth". Farmers Weekly. Retrieved 31 October 2016.
  13. ^ Burns, Michael (5 April 2016). "News". Digital Arts. Retrieved 31 October 2016.
  14. ^ Leal, Natalie; Zee, Bibi van der (20 August 2014). "Off the shelf: are people finally turning away from supermarkets?". The Guardian. Retrieved 31 October 2016.
  15. ^ Ghosh, Shona. "Skype's billionaire cofounder funded a startup that delivers fresh local produce". Business Insider. Retrieved 29 July 2017.
  16. ^ "Farmdrop Secures £7 Million During Series A Funding Round Led By Atomico". Crowdfund Insider. 26 April 2017. Retrieved 29 July 2017.
  17. ^ O'Hear, Steve (14 June 2018). "Farmdrop picks up £10M Series B". Techcrunch.
  18. ^ "Farmdrop to host 'Farmology' educational push on food origins". The Grocer. 13 September 2016. Retrieved 31 October 2016.
  19. ^ "TfL's 'junk food' ban rejects ad containing fresh produce". www.campaignlive.co.uk. Retrieved 18 April 2019.
  20. ^ "Can you spot the junk food in this ad? TfL could". Farmdrop Blog. 1 March 2019. Retrieved 18 April 2019.
  21. ^ foodnavigator.com. "Transport authority jams breaks on Farmdrop advert under new HFSS policy". foodnavigator.com. Retrieved 18 April 2019.
  22. ^ Farmdrop collapse leaves customers without Christmas orders
  23. ^ Important information about Farmdrop
  24. ^ Jones, Rupert (17 December 2021). "Online grocer Farmdrop goes bust and cancels Christmas deliveries". theguardian.com. Retrieved 17 December 2021.
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