A message from our CEO, Mitch
As a small, but mighty business, BCause has been on a mission to reshape the grocery industry on Vancouver Island. When we started back in 2021, we had a desire to be an online equivalent to your traditional brick and mortar grocery store, carrying as many of the items you could get at your traditional supermarket as we could. The challenge being, we're nowhere close to the size of the big retailers in town and carrying that much inventory has been a challenge in a bunch of different ways.
Being an online-only business without a storefront, and with a fraction of a marketing budget of the 'other guys', we have made the decision to shake things up to focus on the categories we can make the most impact in. By simplifying our offerings we think we can make a real impact in the market while focusing on our core values of supporting local producers, growers and not-for-profits.
The truth of the matter is, BCause is 100% self-funded. We have never received any grants or third-party funding and we don't have a line up of investors. And, while we're proud of that, running a grocery store in any capacity is incredibly expensive and therefore, as the scrappy small business that we are, we are making some exciting changes that will help us streamline our operations, keep us laser-focused on our vision, and, ultimately, shape the grocery industry in a new way.
- Curated Boxes. From now on, we will be focusing on curated produce and meat boxes along with a small rotation of everyday basics from our favourite local vendors. This will allow us to order just what we need, reducing our waste to virtually zero! These curated boxes will allow us to get you the most bang for your buck helping you to save upwards of 25% on your grocery bill (depending on the product) when compared to delivery through the leading traditional grocery stores in Victoria.
- One time vs. Subscriptions. You will be able to order these curated boxes as a one-time offering or subscribe and save on every order! You can choose your delivery frequency for any product and skip, or cancel anytime with no penalty. Plus, you'll get free delivery and special member perks as a subscriber!
- Putting the Cause in BCause. From now on, 95% of what BCause sells will benefit local 'Causes'. Partial proceeds from every curated box on BCause will benefit a local not-for-profit of your choice, and we're pretty proud of that. This means that you'll be saving money, getting high quality produce and meats AND be helping your community. This is how BCause stands out against the 'other guys'. We're not Loblaws, Sobeys or Jim Pattison. We're BCause and we're on a mission to bring you quality groceries while helping the communities we love so much at the same time. We call that a win-win-win. We currently have 8 'Causes' in our network and we are working hard to add even more!
While we understand this is a big change, we couldn't be more excited to streamline our operations, help local causes in our communities and, ultimately, help make groceries more accessible for everyone.
If you have any questions, please don't hesitate to reach out to me directly at mitch@shopbcause.ca.
While we're a few years in, this is still just the beginning! Thank you for your continued support.
Mitch Hawes
Owner, CEO - BCause