BlueCart Launches Wholesaler "Editions" and Improved Sustainability Features with a New $10 Million Investment
Blue Hill's David Barber joins the Board of Directors to add deep expertise in restaurant management and food systems
Jun 13, 2017, 10:07 ET
MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif., June 13, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- After nearly two years in development, BlueCart today announces the launch of vertical-specific "BlueCart Editions" for wholesale suppliers of seafood, produce, baked goods, dairy, meat, coffee, and dry goods, among others. These customized platforms are tailored to the particular needs of individual restaurant supply sectors, and are backed by a new $10M Series B investment from some of the biggest players in the national and international hospitality industry.
Each BlueCart Edition tackles the problems unique to its vertical. The BlueCart Bakery Edition, for example, provides users with automatic batch calculation tools that simplify the task of aggregating multiple orders into bake-able batches, while the BlueCart Paper and Linen Edition allows suppliers to more easily highlight new products for their customers.
Dennis Sellers, president of national paper supplier ABCO, says the new system has increased sales dramatically: "We experienced a 15% increase in line items ordered using BlueCart. Now every new customer begins with BlueCart."
The launch of BlueCart Editions comes on the heels of the company's Zero Waste Kitchen initiative to help reduce food waste through more efficient ordering practices, and the combination of the two efforts has attracted big name investors to the startup. Michael Wu, of Hong Kong's Maxim's Group (the company responsible for bringing Starbucks to China), Hua Kuok of hospitality giant Kerry Group Limited, BlueRun Ventures, Columbia Partners, and Patrick Cheung of Zhong Wei Capital and Focus Media have participated in the latest round of funding. And as part of his strategic investment in the company, David Barber of Blue Hill and Blue Hill at Stone Barns will join BlueCart's Board of Directors to lend his expertise on restaurant management and sustainable food practices.
BlueCart users already include top suppliers like Unilever Food Solutions and Master Purveyors, as well as restaurants and restaurant groups from the likes of José Andrés, Jean-Georges Vongerichten, and Michael White. The company has a strong international presence in Egypt, the UK, France, and Australia, and will use the recent funding to expand to at least 18 new markets. BlueCart opened its fourth U.S. office (after New York, San Francisco, and Washington, D.C.) in Chicago on May 1st.
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SOURCE BlueCart, Inc.