Organic Food Keeps Delivery Routes Fresh

Scott and Sarah Butler’s first child was born in 2004, and that is when they started to see the world a little differently. “Life’s dynamics and priorities suddenly changed,” explained Scott Butler, owner of Organic Angels in Melbourne, Australia. “Our family’s well-being was everything.”
Because of their growing interest in nutrition and food, the family began to eat more organic food. But they found it was sometimes difficult to get high quality organic produce in their area. To meet this need, their business—Organic Angels—was born.
In 2006, Organic Angels made its first delivery. Today their customers get weekly boxes containing seasonable, organic produce from local farmers and other certified organic producers in Australia.
The Butlers’ timing was impeccable. Australia has the largest area of organic farmland in the world with 22 million hectares. The country has experienced a 53 percent increase in fully certified organic land between 2011 and 2014, according the Australian Organic Market Report (AOMR).
AOMR also estimates the country’s 2014 organic foods market was valued at $1.72 billion (AUS)—a 15.4 percent compound annual growth rate (CAGR) since 2009.
Organic Angels benefited from the growing interest in organic food. As the business grew, however, the logistics of the delivery routes became more complicated.
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As the company added new staff members, they weren’t necessarily familiar with the area, which made route planning more difficult.
“We had a staff member who wasn’t from Melbourne, so it became very difficult to plan routes manually,” Scott said. “She found MyRouteOnline for us. We had a quote for a similar app for more than $1,000, so I had assumed they were all at that cost. MyRouteOnline was so much cheaper so we jumped at it when I saw how affordable it was.”
As a result, the company began to save the time spent on planning routes—what previously took hours could be done in minutes with MyRouteOnline.com. Additionally, as their customer base grew, their drivers were able to fit more deliveries in one day because the routes were more efficient.
There was another benefit that was important to the company. Shorter routes helped the company maintain its pledge to keep the business sustainable by saving fuel, reducing the number of miles driven and minimizing pollution from vehicles.
“We are always reviewing and looking at how we can improve our sustainable business practices,” Scott said. “Organic Angels is a certified organic retailer with the ACO (Australian Certified Organic). All our processes, purchasing and systems are strictly audited. That’s how our customers know we are who we say we are. MyRouteOnline help us keep our pledge to live a healthy, sustainable lifestyle.”