Springdale startup EasyBins closes, seeks grocer acquisition

Springdale-based online grocery startup EasyBins has ceased operations after failing to complete a $2 million series-A funding round and running out of money. Still, it looks to be acquired by a regional grocer.

CEO and founder James Farmer said the company laid off its workforce of about 30 employees, most of whom were part-time workers. The company completed its last delivery on Tuesday (May 30).

EasyBins offered a grocery delivery service allowing customers to make one order to purchase items from competing retailers, including Aldi, Target and Walmart. Customers shopped online or via the EasyBins app to purchase items to be delivered to their homes in temperature-controlled bins. Delivery was free, and EasyBins did not require customers to buy a set amount of items to complete an order.

“Ironically, our business had never been stronger and healthier,” Farmer said. “We had more new customers in Q1 of this year and Q2 than we did in all of ’21 and ’22.”

In total, EasyBins had “several thousand” customers and about 900 active customers, he said. The business had nearly tripled since Christmas. It recently reopened its Tulsa market and was looking to reopen its Wichita, Kan., market. Revenue was projected to be about $1 million for the year.

Farmer said the company was focused on growth, but as the Fed increased rates last year, venture capital firms wanted proof of profitability. About six months ago, the company closed all its markets except for Northwest Arkansas to focus on profitability as it worked toward completing the series-A round.

Meanwhile, grocers comparable in size to Springdale-based Harps Food Stores have been looking for a grocery delivery service that would set them apart from services such as Instacart. Farmer said he looks to sell EasyBins to a grocer that wants to establish an in-house delivery service. He noted that Harps is an unlikely buyer.

“We had looked at continuing to operate the business while we explored that potential sale,” he said. “Ultimately, we were unsuccessful in getting additional funding. So we’re going to shut the business down and explore a sale.”

In four years, the company completed about 70,000 deliveries to households in Arkansas, Oklahoma, Kansas and Missouri, according to a May 30 customer e-mail about ceasing operations.

“The challenging economic climate and fierce competition in the market presented significant hurdles that ultimately proved insurmountable for our business,” the letter showed.

In November 2021, the company had 65 employees, comprising a mix of full-time and contract workers. It planned to hire 15 more as it expanded its delivery service in the Kansas City, Kan., metro area. In January 2022, the company announced completing a $2 million late-stage seed round that was followed by a $400,000 matching investment from the Arkansas Venture Capital Development Fund. By April 2022, EasyBins was operating in seven markets in the South and Midwest and had plans to triple the number of markets it served.

“Even through the very end, what’s great about EasyBins is…it wasn’t an either/or solution in e-grocery. It was a both/and,” Farmer said. “We saw that in our customer base — very, very few people did we capture 100% of the wallet. They were using us as a solution for things that they couldn’t get other ways — whether that’d be Walmart+, Instacart, Shipt or DoorDash and whether that’d be products from multiple stores or late in the day. Even to the very end, most of our business came after 6 o’clock, and we liked that. We liked that a ton… The routes were really good.”

EasyBins, which launched in 2018, had also operated in central Arkansas, Arkadelphia in south Arkansas and Fort Collins, Colo.