Sunday 1 April 2012

NEWS FROM OCADO



ONLINE SUPERMARKET LOOKING TO DELIVER MOO-RE
Ocado launches live animal delivery service
EMBARGOED – 00.01 1ST April 2012
ONLINE SUPERMARKET, Ocado, opens the UK’s first web ‘Livestock-Shop’ this weekend. Proving that fresh really is best, the new delivery service, in partnership with Daylesford organic farm, will provide customers with a number of live farm animals to produce their own milk and eggs. All available to order from Sunday, 1st April.

The modern day ‘Tom and Barbara’, seeking out The Good Life, will be impressed with Ocado’s offering of livestock from Daylesford’s organic farm in Gloucestershire. Ranging from a single chicken, to a flock of rare hens, and even cows, the online grocer’s fifteenth ‘shop in shop’ caters to those looking to have the freshest produce delivered straight to their door.

To ensure that all animals go to the right ‘farmer’, potential buyers will have their property inspected by the new Ocado farm team, headed by Daylesford’s Senior Farm Manager, Richard Smith. Once homes have been found fit, the in-house team will provide buyers with invaluable urban farm knowledge - from building chicken coops, to milking a cow.

The newly developed Ocado farm van provides a spacious environment for the livestock travelling from the heart of Gloucestershire. Fitted with fresh grass from the West Country and incorporating a state-of-the-art shower spritz and drying system, the farm animals will be truly fresh when they arrive at their new grazing ground.

Following the success of their first online farmshop, launched on Ocado.com in September 2011, Daylesford CEO, Jamie Mitchell, said: “There is a growing market of allotment owners who want to produce more than boring runner beans and cabbages. At Daylesford, we are lucky enough to farm 2,000 acres in the Cotswolds, and wish to give Ocado shoppers the opportunity to farm their own animals, giving them the freshest milk and eggs.”

Ocado co-founder, Jason Gissing commented: “Ocado is dedicated to making life easier for its customers and, on our mission to becoming a food emporium, we strive to provide our shoppers with more of what they want.

Just like our customers, we strongly believe that fresh is the best, hence why our fresh fruit and vegetables are already handled less than they would be at a traditional supermarket - fresh produce is touched only once or twice before being delivered. It’s also why we guarantee that we’ll never sell products right up to their 'use by' date. Ocado’s Daylesford Livestock-Shop is the next step in providing our shoppers with the freshest produce available.”

Prices are as follows:

·         Daylesford Legbar Hen - £25
·         Heritage Gloucestershire Cow - £1000 to £1500
·         British Friedian Cow - £1000 to £2000
ENDS
For further information contact:

Rochelle Collison, Frank PR Tel: 020 7693 7496

Notes to Editors:

About Ocado:
Ocado (http://www.ocado.com) was established in 2000, started trading in 2002 and is now one of Britain’s leading online supermarkets. Ocado operates a centralised distribution model which means that it does not rely upon a network of stores from which to service customers. Ocado delivers over 21,000 product lines including Waitrose goods and a growing Ocado own-label range. In June 2010, it scooped Online Retailer of the Year at The Grocer Gold Awards 2010 and Customer Technology of the Year at the BT Retail Week Technology Awards 2010. In October 2010 it was named World E-tailer of the Year at the prestigious World Retail Awards.
About Daylesford (www.daylesfordorganic.com)

· At Daylesford, we have been farming organically for over 25 years with the simple passion for real food.

· We are committed to organic and sustainable farming: we believe that it is better for us, our animals, the environment, and of course always tastes better...
· In the last 3 years Daylesford has won over 60 national and international awards from all areas of the farm. These include the Soil Association Awards, British Cheese Awards, World Cheese Awards, Great Taste Awards and FARMA.

· Buying direct from farms cuts out the industry ‘middle-men’, ensuring customers know the exact provenance of their food, and allowing producers like Daylesford to bring great value artisan products to market. Daylesford’s prices are always competitive, whether comparing against organic food in the supermarkets, or other high quality produce from specialist retailers