Strack & Van Til, Ultra Foods Team With Instacart

Chicago-area consumers can now order groceries from Strack & Van Til, and Ultra Foods, thanks to a new alliance the 37-store retailer has formed with Instacart.

“Instacart is an industry-leading delivery option for shoppers, and this is a new space for us,” said Brian Fitzpatrick, COO at Strack and Van Til and Ultra Foods. “Shoppers are looking for ways to make the shopping experience more convenient, and we know that home delivery is another way to help with that. We wanted to make sure that we partnered with a company that has a proven record of doing it right.”

Instacart’s initial delivery area for Strack & Van Til Local Foods will be in the Northside neighborhoods of Chicago, while Ultra Foods will be available to suburban customers in Downers Grove, Westmont and nearby cities.

“Partnering with both Strack & Van Til and Ultra Foods stores offers our customers new grocery delivery options in Chicagoland from great stores,” noting Andrew Nodes, head of retail accounts at San Francisco-based Instacart, adding that the move helped the delivery service “build a variety of grocery options in our Chicago retail marketplace.”

Instacart connects customers with personal shoppers who shop for and deliver grocery orders in as little as one hour, eliminating the need for costly infrastructure like inventory, warehouses and trucks. The service is now available in 22 metropolitan areas across the United States via such grocers as Bi-Rite, Costco, Cub Foods, Marsh Supermarkets and Whole Foods Market.

Highland, Ind.-based Strack & Van Til operates stores in Illinois and Indiana under the Strack and Van Til, Ultra Foods, and Town and Country Market banners.