A local food wholesaler has stepped up to the mark, offering a fresh helping of vegetables, fruit and other essentials to the community with its new veg box service during the coronavirus pandemic.
Swanson’s Foods – which supplies wholesale food to hotels, restaurants and businesses throughout the Highlands – has rolled out its contactless food-to-order service, which is aimed at getting fresh produce to people who are struggling to find supermarket delivery slots online.
Each box contains a range of fresh vegetables, fruit and other produce including eggs and milk, depending on availability.
Owner Magnus Swanson said: “A lot of supermarkets are now putting their delivery slots three to four weeks in advance because of the increase in demand. We are able to get our veg boxes out in around 48 hours, so people can get their essentials a lot quicker.”
Customers can opt for delivery of their box within the Inverness area for an additional fee or collect their order from the company’s Inverness warehouse where, since the whole process is contactless, boxes are loaded directly into customer’s cars.
Swanson’s deals in wholesale, which means they have the capacity, vehicles and links with producers, to meet the increased demand.
Since launching the veg boxes, the company has seen a huge uptake of the service and Mr Swanson said: “Initially we were just taking phone orders, but when we started getting lots of calls we knew we had to make it an online service as well.”
Local digital agency, Velocity Design, designed the new website within 24 hours and managing director Steve Jones said: “We’re all in this together, so when Magnus told us what he was planning to roll out, we pulled out all the stops and built his online store within a day and the orders started flooding in immediately.”
Word of the service spread through social media as people looked for an alternative to long waits for supermarket deliveries.
Mr Swanson said: “When I checked that first night there had already been a large number of orders with more coming in each hour.
“The veg boxes look like they will continue to be popular throughout the coming weeks as more people stay safe indoors and self-isolate and it’s a service we’re looking to develop beyond this time.”
Order your box online here.
