Created to offer delivery of food from the 185 year Old Grainger Market safely across Newcastle and the Northeast, the service went from a Facebook post to a Million pound enterprise which has kept over 20 business operating and 30, 000 customers fed for the best part of the last 10 months.
On 23 March 2020, no one could have predicted the chaos and fear in our communities that would follow when lockdown was announced; panic buying leading to empty supermarket shelves magnified an already distressing situation.
Emma-Claude Blair-Phillips, wife, mother to a preschool son, and proprietor of The French Oven – the artisan bakers and caterers based in the Grainger Market’s arcade, has a history of supporting the community, working alongside her family and Traders within the market itself to support charities and local good causes. However, the pandemic presented a wider issue, not just provision of food to the city’s inhabitants, as the market had done for nearly two centuries, but also how the Traders themselves might survive, with customers perceptibly cut off from accessing the market in the same way, either because of lack of transport, lockdown or absolute fear…
Initially various Traders in the market offered delivery via their social media, but what began as a trickle of en quiries became an avalanche when local personality and food blogger Craig Wilde, came into the market and delivered a Facebook live video which subsequently went ‘viral,’ attracting over 200,000 views.
Craig described how he had visited a supermarket early that Monday morning, to find empty shelves as opposed to there in the Grainger Market, which was relatively quiet and yet well stocked with all the fresh produce one might need. Calling people to action and pointing them at the market for food and provisions, the calls on social media to arrange deliveries came thick and fast and proved a challenge too far, so a solution was needed.
Emma-Claude reached out to Craig and his creative agency Niltoni 360º and within 24 hours a rudimentary website shop was established to take orders – and www. GraingerDelivery.com was born! A few weeks later the site was developed into a store one which now offers over 2000 products from over 20 traders within the Grainger Market. From Butchers to Bakers to fresh fish, cards, gifts and fresh fruit, vegetables and salads, even vegan and whole-foods, kitchen supplies, wines, cheeses and more… Newcastle City Council, and NE1 Business Improvement Agency were drafted in to support the Grainger Delivery effort to reach as many communities as possible with food and provisions, working alongside the traders and a small army of volunteers the service proved a life-line for communities across the City and wider region. The site, now in its third and soon to be forth incarnation, is almost a mini ‘Amazon’, in that customers can shop all the Traders and yet receive one next day delivery six days a week. A huge undertaking that saw as many as 400 deliveries a day during the first lockdown; from Durham to Morpeth, South Shields to Hexham and all in between. Logistics led now by Emma-Claude’s brother Darren-Pierre as Operations Director and supported by their father John and a team of delivery drivers. The local NHS trust, Newcastle City Council and Newcastle’s two universities, all looked to Grainger Delivery during the Christmas break to support their employees, Students and Communities with provisions as some isolated or found themselves too stretched with commitments to our health service to shop for the festivities…proving that shopping local is indeed best. On February 1st Grainger Delivery saw it’s 30,000th customer and the business will have collectively turned over £1Million for it’s group of Traders – proving a lifeline for all those small businesses and their families; without Grainger Delivery many of them would surely not have survived to this day. Grainger Delivery has grown into a family business, not just for the Phillips’ family who manage the business, but for all the Traders and the Niltoni 360º Team who operate and market the site to the region and its communities. Emma-Claude commented “We are all very proud of all the hard work our family, our staff and our friends and colleagues in the market have achieved during these unprecedented times. There are so many people who have been positively affected by our efforts, from all parts of our region and we’ve been continually humbled by the gratitude in the feedback we have received.”
“We have been honoured to be part of supporting the Grainger Delivery service, from our ‘Head of Development’ Danny Owens, to our ‘Creative Content’ lead Filipe Neves Ribeiro, and our many support teams and freelancers who have worked tirelessly to support all the market Traders and wider community. Grainger Delivery is a great achievement and I’m sure in no small part has contributed to the Grainger Market’s survival well into the future.” said Craig Wilde, Creative Director – Niltoni 360º.
“Grainger delivery isn’t a faceless giant automated warehouse, it’s a community driven enterprise at the heart of the city, ran by local people…with local businesses, supporting the Newcastle and the Northeast; continuing to contribute to make it the outstanding and canny place it is.” Darren-Pierre Phillips, Operations Director.
John Phillips, chairman of the Grainger Market Traders group, part of the NMTF said: “The camaraderie, the diligent support and tireless efforts of the Market, it’s Traders, Newcastle City Council, NE1 and our partners at Niltoni 360º would be outstanding at any time, but during a global crisis of this magnitude, unseen outside of peacetime is beyond what anyone could have imagined. As we wrestle with what we hope will be the nations third and final lockdown, we are confident our traders and market have a positive future beyond the pandemic, thanks in no small part to Grainger Delivery.”
This February www.GraingerDelivery.com will launch it’s latest edition with new services, look and feel – improving the customer experience – and, to mark the occasion of this and the 30,000th customer, that lucky customer received a Afternoon Tea for two and bubbly – delivered to their door by the Grainger Delivery Team!