SPUD is an environmentally conscious online grocer that delivers organic, fresh and local produce and groceries right to your door. Enjoy the best of what's local, fresh and in season while lightening your load on the planet. Visit www.spud.ca

In the Beginning...

David Van Seters first conceived of SPUD in 1997. He wanted to start a business that integrated environmental, social and economic values in its everyday activities. He felt that an organic food delivery service was ideal because it could:

• help protect the environment by buying local
• build community by creating more direct connections between food producers and consumers
• reduce traffic and pollution by delivering groceries on a set route
• educate customers through a weekly newsletter
• donate leftover food to outreach groups and disadvantaged families

We Have Lift-Off

In March, 1998, SPUD opened its doors from a small warehouse in Vancouver, we had only 3 staff and made just 9 deliveries on our first day.

Since then, SPUD has grown by leaps and bounds and in January 2003, SPUD expanded to Greater Victoria. This was followed by an expansion to Seattle and Calgary in the fall of 2005. To this very day all SPUD locations remain committed to buying local.

SPUD is Carbon Neutral!

SPUD is working to have all of our locations carbon neutral. This initiative will make SPUD the first grocer (online and otherwise) in Canada to become carbon neutral. It will also create a strong environmental business model for others to follow. Going carbon neutral consists of reducing carbon dioxide emissions as much as possible and offsetting the remainder.

To become carbon neutral SPUD is minimizing, as much as possible, the idling of our delivery trucks, monitoring our delivery fuel consumption and are working towards purchasing newer and more fuel-efficient delivery trucks. We are also turning off office lights and equipment, researching green power opportunities and using double-sided recycled paper for printing. Wherever and whenever we can save energy, we will!

To become carbon neutral, SPUD participated in Canada’s first carbon neutral workgroup run by Ecotrust Canada in partnership with the Pembina Institute. This workshop helped us determine that SPUD generates 429 metric tonnes of greenhouse gases per year. SPUD is working to reduce these emissions by 10% and then we will purchase carbon offsets to eliminate our remaining emissions entirely, thus becoming completely carbon neutral.

SPUD is committed to doing our part to honour and sustain the natural world while also making it easy for our customers to reduce their impact on the earth.