Walmart Will Deliver Groceries Directly to Your Fridge to Compete With Amazon

October 15, 2019 Admin 0 Comments

Plus, big meat meets fake meat, and more news to start your day

Walmart wants to deliver groceries straight to your fridge

You may soon be able to get Walmart groceries delivered right to your fridge. On Tuesday, the retail giant launched a new “InHome” service and membership program that costs $19.95 a month, plus a $49.95 smart lock or smart garage door kit, to let body camera-equipped delivery employees into customers’ homes even when they’re not around, CNBC reports. Security measures include a one-time passcode for the delivery person during a specific window of time, a lock that will only open if the deliverer’s body cam is recording and livestreaming, and delivery people who have been Walmart employees for at least a year and have passed several background checks.

For now, InHome is only available for 1 million customers in Pittsburgh, Kansas City, and Vero Beach, Florida, but should the pilot program succeed, the company hopes to expand nationwide, putting Walmart in a position to compete with Amazon’s similar home delivery service that first launched in 2017. The future of groceries, judging by these rollouts, is looking more and more like letting strangers into your home to keep your fridge stocked. Out of sight and out of mind.

And in other news…

• In his new book, investigative reporter Ronan Farrow in part credits the late Anthony Bourdain for getting his explosive #MeToo reporting on Harvey Weinstein into the New Yorker. [Page Six]
• Following the success of start-ups Beyond Meat and Impossible Foods, big meat companies are the next wave of businesses getting in on the plant-based meat market. [NYT]
• Lay’s new chip flavor is grilled cheese and tomato soup, which I’m assuming just tastes like cheese and tomato. [People]
• Delivery company DoorDash has opened a virtual kitchen that offers to-go-only food from local and national restaurants. [Restaurant Dive]
• You can now order Burger King delivery through Uber Eats, which used to be the sole deliverer of McDonald’s until earlier this year. [Insider]
• Meet the woman behind Pasta Grannies, a YouTube Channel showcasing Italian nonnas making pasta the old-fashioned way. [NYT]
• A French (?) company is selling a limited-edition bottle of wine with 24-karat gold flakes (??) to celebrate the “milestone in British history” that is Brexit (???). [CNN]
• Nick Offerman, a.k.a. Parks and Rec’s Ron Swanson, joins celebrity brethren like Ryan Reynolds in launching his own booze (a limited release of Lagavulin Islay Single Malt Whisky). [The Takeout]
• Succession actor Matthew Macfadyen had to eat a lot of chicken for his standout yacht scene in the finale. [Vulture]
• Rise and shine, here’s some unsolicited pasta discourse:

• All AM Intel Coverage [E]