Grocery Delivery Service Coming to Central and South Maui

A new grocery delivery service will launch for Central and South Maui residents on Thursday, Oct. 12, that will provide everyday essentials and groceries right to their door in as little as one hour.

Customers can order groceries from their favorite local stores and a shopper will pick up the items and deliver the order to their door. Photo Courtesy: Instacart

Instacart is the nation’s largest on-demand grocery delivery service. Customers can order groceries via smartphone or online from their favorite local stores and a shopper picks up the items and delivers the order to their door.

On Maui, the stores Instacart will work with include Safeway, CVS/Longs, Costco, Foodland and PetCo.

The company, based out of San Francisco, said there was an overwhelming volume of requests to expand to the Honolulu and Maui region.

“Over the past year we’ve seen incredible demand in the Honolulu area,” said Sean Twersky, Senior
Regional Director. “We work with a variety of local retailers to provide the freshest, highest quality groceries to our customers. Expansion into Honolulu and Kahului gives us an opportunity to expand service to the Hawai‘i market.”

“Hawai‘i is great place to expand to because there’s a lot of traffic issues in certain areas, and the lifestyle out here is conducive for it,” said Joseph Benz, operations manager. “It allows for people to be in the sun more and to do great things, and it’s beneficial for tourists too.”

Maui regions will include Kīhei, Wailea-Mākena, Kahului and Waikapū or the following Maui zip codes: 96753, 96784, 96732, and 96793.

Instacart says the delivery area will cover over 140,000 households on Maui and O‘ahu, bringing income earning opportunities to the area with plans to bring on more than 100 new shoppers.

Interested shoppers can apply online. According to the company’s website, positions that require a car have an unlimited number of hours per week, and positions without cars have a maximum of 29 hours per week. Interested shoppers must be 21 years or older to apply and need a recent smartphone (iPhone 5 or Android 5.0, or newer).

“Instacart is ideal for anyone going to the grocery store,” Benz added. “People that gravitate to it are busy people who don’t have the time, the elderly or disabled who cannot get out of the house to get groceries, and mothers or parents who have a tough time getting to the supermarket,” he said.

​Customers can order online or open the Instacart mobile app on their iPhone or Android device, select their city/store, add items to a virtual cart, then choose a delivery window (within one hour, within two hours, or up to seven days in advance) and check out. An Instacart shopper then accepts the order on his/her smartphone, uses the Instacart shopper app to guide them through shopping, and then delivers the order to the customer in the designated delivery timeframe. Benz said there is an item limit that allows for one-hour delivery.

There are deals and coupons available on the website and app, however, Benz noted that in-store coupons will not be valid for use.

Benz said the company hopes to expand to 80% of the US by the end of 2018. He said if a zip code isn’t listed to send in a request, as the demand for a particular area grows, the company could expand to that region.

He added that the first delivery is free and there is a $20 coupon code (AlohaHawaii) in connection with the launch.

After that, there is a flat-rate delivery of $5.99 for orders of $35 or more, plus the cost of the groceries. Customers can also sign up for Instacart Express membership where customers can pay a $15 monthly or $149 annual fee for unlimited, free one-hour delivery on orders of $35 or more.