Epicery

Epicery operates as an online marketplace specifically focused on connecting urban consumers with local, high-quality food artisans and merchants. Founded in 2016 by Edouard Morhange and Elsa Hermal, the company established a platform to address the challenge faced by busy city dwellers in accessing fresh products from neighborhood butchers, fishmongers, cheesemongers, and greengrocers. The founders' backgrounds proved complementary: Morhange is a serial entrepreneur with a passion for 'slow food', having been an ambassador for the Jamie Oliver Foundation, driven by a belief in the importance of cooking with unprocessed ingredients. Hermal brought her entrepreneurial drive and experience from the corporate world, with a passion for food and the startup ecosystem.

The business model centers on providing a turnkey digital solution for small food retailers, many of whom previously had no online presence. Epicery equips these merchants with a tablet and an app for real-time order management, handles the creation of a digital product catalog, and provides marketing support. Revenue is generated through a commission on sales made through the platform and, at one point, a monthly subscription fee from the merchants. For consumers, the service offers the convenience of ordering from multiple local artisans in one place, with delivery typically within the hour for a fixed fee. The platform aims to serve people who lack the time for traditional shopping but still desire high-quality, fresh food over mass-market alternatives.

Significant milestones in the company's history include its expansion from Paris to other French cities like Lyon, Bordeaux, and Lille. It attracted investment from the supermarket chain Monoprix in 2017, which also allowed Epicery to deliver products from Monoprix and its organic store, Naturalia. In a major development, La Poste Group's subsidiary, Geopost, acquired a majority stake in Epicery in 2021 to accelerate its national expansion. This acquisition was part of La Poste's strategy for developing services for future city life. Despite its growth and backing, the company announced it would cease operations at the end of 2024.

Keywords: local food delivery, artisan food marketplace, online grocery, gourmet food delivery, foodtech, e-commerce platform, Paris startup, local merchants, fresh produce delivery, butcher delivery, fishmonger online, cheesemonger delivery, farm-to-table, slow food movement, neighborhood shops, grocery delivery service, French food tech, urban delivery, last-mile delivery, digital marketplace