Skip the grocery store New Express Lane service sees Skip branch out with household items, snacks and groceries delivered to your door within 30 minutes By: Temur Durrani  Posted: 7:00 PM CDT Tuesday, Aug. 10, 2021

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This article was published 10/08/2021 (1548 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Food delivery giant SkipTheDishes is debuting a new business model in its hometown.

A trial run for Skip Express Lane — which delivers household items, snacks, groceries and other local favourites straight from the makers of the app — has launched for Winnipeg-only customers.

Boasting deliveries within 25 minutes after an order has been placed, the company’s chief operating officer told the Free Press the service is also particularly emphasizing made-in-Manitoba products.

“The expectation of a consumer is the highest it’s ever been. When our Netflix loads for more than a minute, we get upset,” said Howard Migdal of SkipTheDishes in an interview Tuesday. “Two hours for grocery or convenience-store delivery just isn’t good enough.”

Over the course of the COVID-19 pandemic, SkipTheDishes — like a dozen other services — started partnering with a range of local retailers to get products straight to a customer’s door. The result was highly lucrative, with Skip alone reporting a 900 per cent increase in year-over-year demand.

But not many of those companies have yet launched their own direct service straight from their native application or web pages. “That’s why we saw there was a gap to fill in the market,” said Migdal.

“What if you need something like baby wipes, or a pack of Coca-Cola or ingredients to make a dish at the last minute? Well, now you have Skip Express Lane that will do that for you in the fastest time possible.”

Time isn’t the only thing Migdal believes to be efficient about the service.

Priced with a $1.99 fee per order that is waived for purchases over $25, Skip Express Lane has already become one of the most cost-effective delivery services across Canada.

For reference, at a flat rate of $19.98 per order (or $9.99 using the app’s local convenience rates), charges for delivery service Inabuggy are much higher than SkipTheDishes. InstaCart, on the other hand, starts at $3.99 for same-day orders over $35.

The new venture also comes with loaded infrastructure and registered drivers from SkipTheDishes. There are over 2,500 employees for the company in Winnipeg alone.

And coupled with new Amazon-style fulfillment centres in the city, that are entirely staffed by pre-existing employees, Skip has added another layer to its well-oiled machine.

“There’s no doubt about it, they already have a leg up on the competition,” said Sylvain Charlebois, Canada’s leading food supply chain expert, on Tuesday. “It’s also just a really smart business decision, because it kind of cuts out the middleman.”

However, Charlebois said, it’s “quickly becoming a very crowded space” with so many delivery services to pick from.

While the pandemic created a new appetite for convenient delivery, he added, continuing the trend after COVID-19 will be an uphill battle for businesses new and old.

“Any new approach has to have a certain level of sophistication so that it can survive in the long-term. Otherwise, it’s just a war of convenience,” said Charlebois.

“Look at the rise of ghost kitchens, for example. They’re thriving now, but I’m not so sure about their future as the fear of the virus sort of starts to wane out and people like going out again.”

“What if you need something like baby wipes, or a pack of Coca-Cola or ingredients to make a dish at the last minute? Well, now you have Skip Express Lane that will do that for you in the fastest time possible.” – Howard Migdal

But Migdal said he doesn’t see the venture as a short-term concept, hinting that SkipTheDishes might be scaling up Skip Express Lane nationally in due time.

“Yes, we’re testing things out and we’re learning more every day with this,” Migdal said. “Still, frankly, we don’t see this going away any time soon. We’re quickly seeing a lot of customers enjoying this.”

There are currently 1,500 items for sale at Skip Express Lane. Three of the top four selling items since the soft launch last week include local products: Spenst Bros Take and Bake Pizza, La Pampa Frozen Empanadas, and Pic-a-Pop sodas.

Others include Prairie West Ice Cream, Honey Dill dipping sauce, La Cocina chips and Jenna Rae Cakes.

Migdal said Winnipeggers can expect at least one new made-in-Manitoba product added to Skip’s roster every week.

The service will operate from 11 a.m. to 2 a.m. every day. 

temur.durrani@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @temurdur