Online organic food business Abel & Cole is to launch a new service aimed at catering for offices and other workplaces with faster delivery times.
Called Fed by Abel & Cole, the service will launch from next month initially in London.
Deliveries will be made by bicycle from a warehouse in east London’s Hoxton, using third-party couriers.
Able & Cole had not yet planned to officially announce the launch but details emerged in a job ad from the firm for a ‘warehouse and fulfilment operative’ at the Hoxton site.
‘Abel & Cole are preparing to launch a new sub-brand which focuses on delivering food to the workplace,’ the ad said. ’This new service will offer high-quality food with a convenient and easy-to-use service, married to the ethical values and high standards for sustainable business that Abel & Cole is known for.
‘With backing and support from the main Abel & Cole business, this new brand has been created with a start-up mentality with the long term goal of creating a standalone business.’
Abel & Cole’s main business delivers organic food boxes across the country on one day per week, varying according to location. The range includes organic fruit & veg, meat, fish and recipe boxes.
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An Abel & Cole spokeswoman said the new service would deliver “organic fruit, veg, dairy, drinks and snacks to offices in London initially.”
She said it was a “relaunch” of an earlier Abel & Cole effort to target workplaces under the brand name Brainfood, but “the delivery model is more enhanced with customers being offered daily deliveries with time slots and shorter ordering deadlines.
”And we’re really thrilled to say that all deliveries will be made on bicycles,” she added.
Abel & Cole MD Hannah Shipton said: “We’re looking forward to delivering Abel & Cole food in a convenient way to businesses who care about the food their teams are eating.”
The firm is also advertising for a customer experience advocate for the new operation and has already recruited a head of products. Lex Panayi was previously head of product and innovation at online organic farm shop Daylesford before moving to his new post last month.
Abel & Cole has a depot in Sharpness, Gloucestershire, and offices in Wimbledon, as well as a warehouse in Andover, where orders originate.
The Andover facility was one of the business premises evacuated during the fire that destroyed Ocado’s nearby 240,000 sq ft warehouse earlier this month. Abel & Cole’s weekly deliveries had to be cancelled as a result.
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