Grocery Is a Graveyard and We Are Not Going In
FarmDrop lost more than £50 million over a decade. The lesson is not subtle.
- Subject
- Strategy
- Published
- 2026-05-20
There is an obvious next step from a curated box subscription, which is to broaden it into general groceries. We are not going to take it.
FarmDrop was an ethical online grocer founded in 2012 with an excellent mission, serious backing and a decade of trying. It racked up losses of more than fifty million pounds and ceased trading on 17 December 2021, owing up to four hundred and fifty suppliers.
Grocery margins plus cold-chain logistics do not work at small scale. They have killed better-funded operations than this one, repeatedly, and the failure mode is always the same: the mission attracts the capital, the logistics consume it, and the suppliers are the ones left holding it.
So the boxes stay curated, high-margin and brand-led. Ambient goods, drinks and one seasonal fresh element at most. That is a deliberate ceiling, and we would rather explain it than hit it at speed.
Subject
Strategy
Published
2026-05-20
Written by
Somebody who was there
Free
No paywall, no account
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