Christmas deliveries at risk as online grocer Farmdrop goes bust

Christmas deliveries for 1000’s of clients are at chance after Farmdrop, the upmarket grocery web site, stopped trading.

The enterprise has advised its reported ten,000 clients on Thursday that it is closing forever.

Deliveries have now stopped. Farmdrop’s closure dangers disrupting festivities as quite a few clients are probable to have requested their Christmas dinners via the web site.

The business enterprise has logged a detect of intention to appoint administrators at the Large Court docket, generally a precursor to an insolvency course of action, after it unsuccessful to raise emergency money.    

In a concept to clients, it reported: “It has become apparent that we have exhausted all possible solutions. It is with extremely weighty hearts that we need to enable you know that we will no lengthier be capable to provide our cherished clients.”

Christmas gives, which include its variety of “Turkey And All The Trimmings”, its £5.95 cranberry and orange sauce and £8.ninety nine natural and organic mince pies, are still getting advertised on the Farmdrop web site.

A single purchaser with a pending purchase has been advised to “get in touch with your lender or card provider to initiate a chargeback”, in accordance to the Grocer.

In the meantime, Kate Clark, the founder of ice-product provider Luscious, wrote on LinkedIn that she was “sad but not surprised” to hear of Farmdrop’s demise, in advance of professing that it owed cash to her enterprise.

Started in 2012 by Ben Pugh, a former  stockbroker at Morgan Stanley, Farmdrop had been backed by large-profile traders which include Atomico, the London VC fund founded by Skype co-founder Niklas Zennström, and Zoopla founder Alex Chesterman.

The company, which also counts the Duke of Westminster among the its traders, sourced top quality solutions from hundreds of farmers and small suppliers to offer in the London area.

It posted product sales of £11.8m in its most new set of accounts, up from £5.4 in 2019, and narrowed its lossed from £11m to £9m.

Farmdrop was contacted for remark.