The COVID-19, or novel coronavirus, pandemic has caused massive job layoffs and an economic fallout that has hit many communities hard. Because of new social distancing and quarantine restrictions, many have looked to grocery delivery services to avoid big crowds during the public health crisis.
For one couple, these new rules provided a chance to team up with local Black-owned grocery stores in the Atlanta area to create a delivery service to help reach their customers.
Rhandi and Jonathan Altidor are the founders The Better Buggy, a grocery delivery service that connects users with Black-owned farms and food suppliers in their Atlanta community. The idea came about after the couple saw the effects of the COVID-19 outbreak on local businesses.
“I told my husband that it was really frustrating that weren’t able to support Black-owned stores because a lot of the major outlets that
offer [grocery delivery] don’t have smaller Black-owned businesses available,” Rhandi said in an interview with Because of Them We Can.“We are always team ‘buy Black’ whenever we can, wherever we can—why don’t we fill this void that’s out there and help empower these local Black-owned stores and create this service because it wasn’t there.”
The two educators created the business while in quarantine to help out those in the community as well as local Black grocers. The same-day delivery service connects with farms and suppliers to supply fresh groceries, including vegan and organic options.
“Starting a business in the middle of the pandemic was crazy. Even though we were home there was a lot we had to do, but still considering COVID-19 with the safety measures. Initially, everything was going so quickly, we had to slow down and ensure we’re doing things correctly,” Jonathan said.
“It was a blessing that we were able to form this type of business during COVID because there was a demand for people to have their groceries remotely,” he added. “I think that played a part in us being able to scale so fast.”