Related Articles BASEBALL: Quakes manager Forbes used to exceeding expectations Home delivery of Stater Bros. groceries arrives in the Inland Empire on Tuesday.

Stater Bros. is partnering with a five-year-old delivery company called Instacart to provide to several ZIP codes between Pomona and Coachella.

Inland service is part of a major expansion by Instacart to reach 1 million additional households throughout Southern California.

Several other Instacart partners serve the Inland Empire, including Smart & Final, Costco, Petco and Ralphs.

Stater Bros., based in San Bernardino, is one of the Inland area’s largest retailers with 18,000 employees.

Stater Bros.’ partnership with Instacart began in 2016 with one Orange County store and has gradually expanded to 77 of its 170 locations.

“Instacart is a company that knows and understands online business as well as logistics,” Pete Van Helden, president and chief executive officer of Stater Bros., said in a phone interview. “They do a great job, and the relationship has been great.”

Instacart customers register with the service online and select their purchases from a range of departments, including deli, meat and seafood, bakery, dry goods, household and pets. They can order on demand or schedule a delivery.

Then a “personal shopper” picks up the order, selects the items and makes the delivery. The fee is $5.99 for orders larger than $35.

To qualify for the job, personal shoppers must “love grocery shopping, have a smartphone and have reliable transportation,” according to the Instacart website.

Van Helden said stores don’t make special accommodations for personal shoppers but through Instacart give customers “a virtual Stater Bros. experience.”

“We bring the best replication of our in-store experience online by providing a full complement of items that we would sell at a regular store, and we do it at exactly the same prices that we would charge in a store. Not everybody takes that position.”

Sean Twersky, Instacart’s senior regional director, said that “when the produce hits your door, it’s been vetted twice.”

“Stater Bros. or Whole Foods or Gelson’s vetted it and put it out in the store front, and then our shopper picked the best one.”

Instacart’s most frequent customers “skew a little bit younger, toward the millennial types,” according to Twersky. He said in a phone interview the service is also popular among moms with multiple kids.

“We find that people buy their normal products. Their purchasing habits don’t dramatically differ. They buy a little bit more on Instacart, because it’s a pretty simple, friction-free experience.”

Instacart gives customers the chance to buy from stores that are outside of their neighborhoods within limits, Twersky said. Inland residents won’t be able to buy from Gelson’s Markets or Whole Foods because the closest stores to Riverside and San Bernardino are in Orange County or the Coachella Valley. It wouldn’t be cost effective for shoppers to make such long runs.

Twersky said customer requests play a big role in where Instacart grows.

“When we see demand in an area, we can jump on it pretty quickly because we have established partnerships with many regional and national partners already. … As long as we think there’s a demand, and as long as we think there are a few folks who might want to do this as a gig, we feel pretty comfortable jumping in.”

Stater Bros. has gotten positive response to Instacart, Van Helden said.

“We’re happy to expand wherever Instacart goes. As they continue their expansion, whatever stores that would be covered, we certainly want to sign up for that.”

Instacart

Cost: $5.99 for orders more than $35

Instacart Express: $14.99 a month or up to $149/year for unlimited free one-hour deliveries on orders of more than $35.

Introductory discount: New users can enter code “HILOSANG” at checkout and get $20 off their first order of $35 or more, plus free first-time delivery.

Website: www.instacart.com

Source: Instacart