Peter Somers, CEO-owner of SprintPack, invests in Efoodconsult, a Belgian start-up deploying ‘Efoodbox’, an end-2-end solution for home delivery of food and temperature sensitive goods. With this investment he emphasizes its believe in the potential of the online food market.
Efoodconsult is a Belgian startup, created in February 2015 with the ambition to offer a safe solution for the last mile delivery of fresh, chilled and frozen goods. A lot of young, passionate companies and retailers willing to bring food products to the households are hesitating to make this step because of the huge investments in cooled vans and cooling equipment. Efoodconsult offers an adequate answer to this supply chain question with the launch of the ‘Efoodbox’, an isothermal box with an intelligent temperature monitoring system enabling all stakeholders to follow the temperature End-2-End of their sensitive deliveries – up to 15 kg. Efoodconsult combines this technical offer with consulting on food safety and best practices for merchants and logistic players.
Online food purchases are obviously on the rise. The UK is taking the lead with 24% online purchases of groceries. The Netherlands and Belgium show at this moment more modest figures, but in all countries online food is quickly growing. The major part of these orders are collected via pickup points of supermarkets, of which exist only for Belgium already more than 350. At the other hand, new food models such as HelloFresh, Smartmat, Doozo and niche food products are very successful and the focus for these products is on home delivery. This evolution shows the need for safe solutions such as the Efoodbox securing a bullet proof cold chain for the last mile.
With their five-year experience in sending temperature sensitive goods for one of Belgium’s biggest last mile players, the founders of Efoodconsult have a good understanding of the needs of merchants, logistics providers and food safety regulation.
The concept of the Efoodbox was nominated last year by IWT (Institute for Science and Technology) as an innovative project and therefore subsidized by the Flemish Government with the strong believe that the Efoodbox can be a valid alternative for cooled vans.
Efoodconsult will continue to be led by the founders Marnix Van Bockhaven and Jos Miermans and Peter Somers will support the growth and development of Efoodconsult as Chairman of the Non-Executive Board.
SprintPack NV, launched in 2015 by Peter Somers (former member of the Executive Committee of bpost and headed bpost Parcels & International) with offices in Belgium and China, delivers eCommerce solutions such as qualitative and efficient routing of parcel delivery in the BeNeLux and worldwide, 3PL activities like storage, pick & pack and setting up web shops. These components are also proposed in a completely integrated ‘One-stop-shop eCommerce solution’, which is unique on the Belgian market.
In November 2015, Peter Somers announced his investment in Plus Logistics NV, a Belgian fulfilment company with 7.500m2 logistics surface in Sint-Niklaas. This company has been renamed SprintPack Logistics as from 1st January 2016.
Peter Somers: ‘I am convinced that the Efoodbox provides a great solution globally for the fast growing market of online food and health care. The respect of the cold chain is key for merchants to deliver safe and secure their products at home. This solution allows last mile operators to deploy food and medicine deliveries leveraging their existing fleet and avoiding large investments in active cooling equipment for their vans.