Last Updated 2023-03-05
Welcome to Groceries from The SEED
Our goal is to make Guelph-Wellington the first community in Canada where everyone has access to good food. When you shop at Groceries from The SEED, you help people in your community afford good food. Together we are building a new kind of food system.
Groceries from The SEED does not charge membership fees or delivery fees. We update our pricing regularly to ensure we are reflective of current market value. We believe that grocery home delivery is a valuable service. We are constantly tailoring our service to be what you, the customer, needs.
Payment Methods and Order Deadlines
Purchases can be made independently online or over the phone with the help of our Customer Service team from Monday-Friday, 10am-4pm. Our online store accepts credit card, debit visa or prepaid credit card.
We offer in-person customer service to accept cash and debit payments at the following locations and hours:
- Shelldale Family Gateway, 60 Shelldale Ct. Guelph, Wednesdays 10am-4pm
- Community Food Warehouse, 69 Huron St. Guelph, Fridays 10am-4pm
Ordering deadlines are Mondays and Thursdays (at noon), for next available delivery/pickup dates (Tuesdays and Fridays).
Delivery and Pickup Services
Delivery of Groceries from The SEED is available for customers located within Guelph, Guelph-Eramosa and Centre Wellington, free of charge. Delivery drivers are typically on the roads Tuesdays and Fridays between the hours of 11:30 am – 5:30 pm. As the majority of our drivers are volunteers, we map out their routes based on order locations and their availability. Deliveries will be made to the address specified by you when you check out.
At times, we may receive more demand for our delivery service than our capacity allows. If this is the case, we will place a cap on the number of deliveries that can go out on a given day. If you cannot select delivery at checkout, this is because all delivery slots for that day have been filled. Please choose to pick up your groceries OR select a different day for delivery.
We are unable to schedule exact times for deliveries, but if you leave a request in our “Delivery Instructions” section of the Checkout page, we will try our best to accommodate your preferred timeframe.
We take great pride in our amazing volunteers who assemble and deliver orders and take reasonable care to deliver and / or have your order ready for pickup. It is your responsibility to ensure that someone is available to receive the order: (1) at the delivery address during the delivery window confirmed via email the evening before delivery or (2) in the case of pickup, during the pickup time selected at the time of checkout. If no one is at the address when the delivery is attempted, the goods will be retained by us. We will leave a voicemail notification of attempted delivery, and our Customer Service team will reach out to you and use reasonable efforts to rearrange delivery or pickup.
If drivers have been instructed to leave orders at the door, The SEED is not responsible for any damaged and / or missing items once delivery has been made. If you instruct us to make an unattended delivery, we withdraw all liability which may arise by the delivery having been made on an unattended basis, including but not limited to theft, tampering, contamination and temperature change in respect of temperature-sensitive items. We will not leave grocery orders in lobby entrances of apartment buildings.
To make sure you get your delivery as scheduled, we recommend:
- Keeping an eye out for text messages and phone calls from the delivery driver
- Leaving helpful instructions for parking, gate codes, or other ways to find your home, as well as accessibility accommodations
- Providing alternate contact information for someone who may be able to assist with a successful delivery such as a family member or neighbour
If the delivery driver can’t find your location, they’ll try to get in touch with you via phone call before taking further action. Unless you specifically request for them to do so, drivers are unable to leave an order unattended.
Pick up
We offer our customers the opportunity to pick up their order from our warehouse. Pick up from 69 Huron Street can be selected as an option at Checkout.
Pick up appointments can be scheduled Tuesdays between 3 – 6 pm and Fridays between 3 – 5 pm. Customers must schedule an appointment to pick up their order via checkout, or by contacting Customer Service (519-821-6638 ext. 396) to ensure the order is ready. If you need to switch from delivery to pick up, or vice versa, we ask that you give as much notice as possible by contacting our Customer Service team (519-821-6638 ext. 396 or groceries@theseedguelph.ca). We understand things happen; however, giving advanced notice ensures we do not misuse packing or delivery support unnecessarily.
Delivery and/or pickup days and times will be as specified on the Checkout page. You are able to select dates as far into the future as you like, but must work within the available ordering dates and deadlines (see above) if you are looking for next-available date. Pickup appointments are subject to availability. If you do not complete your order by the cut-off time you will be required to select the next available delivery date before checkout.
There is no delivery / pickup fee associated with Groceries from The SEED. If you would like to contribute to these costs please do so by donating.
Adverse Weather or Road Conditions
Please note, adverse weather or road conditions and other events outside of our control may result in late or cancelled orders. If this were to happen our Customer Service team will contact you as soon as reasonably possible to reschedule and / or cancel your order. We want to ensure the safety of our team and customers, so appreciate your patience while we navigate any conditions outside of our control.
Delivery drivers are within their rights to decline a delivery should they arrive at a location they deem unsafe. To prevent this from happening we ask that you do your best to remove any potential hazards that may impede delivery. This can include snow covered or icy walkways. Please ensure household pets are safely kept away or being monitored during times of delivery. Our delivery drivers will often go above and beyond, so please ensure you are doing everything you can to help us stay safe.
Severe weather conditions may impact operations and staffing of some of our suppliers in parts of Ontario. We do our best to minimize service disruptions but are aware that delays to service may occur.
Quality of Goods
We want to stand behind the quality of the food we send out, so what happens if there’s an issue with your order? If a product does not meet your expectations, please reach out to our Customer Service team within 24 hours (519-821-6638 ext. 396 or groceries@theseedguelph.ca). Our Customer Service team is available by phone or email Monday – Friday 10 am – 4 pm, and happy to hear from you. Your feedback and suggestions help us improve over time, so is always welcome!
Let us know if you receive:
- Missing items
- Incorrect items
- Damaged, spoiled, or unusable items
- Poor replacements
If something isn’t quite right, reach out to let us know within 24 hours, and we will issue you a store credit to cover the cost of the item in question. Online store credits do not expire and can used towards future purchases with Groceries from The SEED, until the credit balance reaches zero.
Refunds
Individual items cannot be refunded back, but we can, in the case of a duplicate order, refund a full order back. To request a refund please reach out to our Customer Service team as soon as possible. The card method used for payment will be refunded, in full, but it may take 5-10 business days to see the funds in your bank or credit card account, depending on your bank.
We reserve the right, at our discretion, to suspend, cancel or make changes to this program without prior notice, which includes the right to cease services to any customer who we determine is abusing the program.
COVID-19 Precautions for Delivery
The safety of our customers, staff, and volunteer teams are our top priority. We have implemented extensive preventative measures to ensure The SEED is a safe place to work and a safe home-delivery service for customers. We will continue to assess and implement new measures as needed.
Our delivery volunteers will be masked and maintain social distance to the best of their abilities. Wearing a mask is strongly encouraged if you will be meeting with our drivers on delivery day.
To date we’ve:
- Implemented new robust and frequent cleaning and sanitization of our warehouse and kitchen spaces.
- Reinforced our already-high hygiene and sanitization standards for all teammates.
- Equipped all teammates with masks
- Implemented practices to ensure all teammates work at a safe distance from one another to respect physical distancing.
- Encouraged teammates to not come into work if they are sick.
- We’re supporting our teammates who need to be away from work because of self-quarantine or to care for family members at home so they do not need to choose between their health or family, and their income.
- If one of our teammates tests positive for COVID-19, we will follow the direction of Public Health to deep-clean as directed and investigate known points of contact. We will also support our teammates throughout their recovery.
Managing a Safe Delivery
Our delivery experience includes the following safety measures:
- All deliveries will be left at your doorstep. Delivery drivers will not enter customer homes.
- Delivery drivers will not accept product returns at the doorstep. If customers would like to return a product, they should contact our Customer Service team.
- Delivery volunteers will call customers ahead of time for specific delivery instructions, unless otherwise specified in Delivery Instructions. If customers are self-isolating, our delivery volunteer will coordinate the best method for delivery.
Adjusting our Offering (Shorts / Swaps)
To help us serve more customers, we’re focusing our offering on the items our customers are looking for the most. Not able to find what your household normally shops for? Let us know! We listen to your feedback, and it helps guide our supplier needs.
If an item(s) is out of stock at the time your order is being assembled, we will substitute a similar item for you, or attach an “Out of Stock” slip to your packing list. These slips will highlight any missing items, and let you know that we will be issuing a store credit to your account to cover the cost of the item(s) in question.
Free Food
The Free Food section includes high-quality surplus food that has either been donated or is bumping up against its best-before date in our warehouse. When shopping Free Food, please keep the following policies in mind:
- Item limits are set for each household, per delivery day. This is to ensure our delivery team has the capacity to deliver your order.
- We want our free food to reach as many of our customers as possible! Only one order of free food can be placed for a single delivery day. We reserve the right to cancel any additional orders.
- Please check ‘best before’ dates before ordering. At this time, we will not deliver food past its best before date.
COVID-19 Update: Like many online grocery home delivery services, we are experiencing unprecedented demand. We are working closely with our supplier partners to remain in stock as much as possible and will continue to offer substitutions if products are available.
COVID-19 may impact operations and staffing of some of our suppliers in parts of Ontario. We do our best to minimize service disruptions but are aware that delays to service may occur.