Carrefour has bought Potager City, a distributor of online subscription-based boxes of fruit and vegetables sourced via short distribution channels.
Based in Lyon, France, Potager City sells various fruit and vegetable boxes that are delivered to pick-up points or companies together with menus to help consumers eat better.
To do this, the start-up has developed a network of more than 750 local producers and partner fruit and vegetable growers and farmers.
Potager City employs 110 people and delivers to 350 towns in France via seven logistics centres and a network of more than 3,300 pick-up points. This way, it is able to operate as closely as possible to consumers and the partner producers who supply it.
“With this acquisition, Carrefour is strengthening its food e-commerce offering,” said Amélie Oudéa-Castéra, Carrefour executive director of e-commerce, data and digital transformation.
“Customers will be able to subscribe to a practical, commitment-free box delivery service, providing them with extra-fresh, seasonal and local products that are both tasty and responsible, fully in line with our company purpose.”
Potager City founder Yoann Alarçon added: “A new chapter is starting for our team, our producers and our partners. We are delighted to join the Carrefour Group so we can put even more effort into deploying concrete, local and affordable solutions enabling consumers to eat healthier, tastier and more responsible food.”
The announcement comes weeks after Carrefour secured a deal to acquire Dejbox, a lunch delivery service that operates in the French cities of Lille, Lyon, Paris, Bordeaux, Nantes and Grenoble.
