Just learned of an excellent new organic food delivery service based out of Austin, Texas named GreenLing.

Are you familiar with Peapod? If so, then you pretty much already know the concent behind GreenLing. The big difference between Peapod and Greenling is that the latter specializes in organic produce, and fresh local organic produce to boot.

Recently featured in the June/July 2009 issue of Small Biz magazine, sales are up 30% for this online green grocer. Their eco niche focus has garnered them some 2,000 customers so far, not bad for a 20 employee operation that only works locally.

Mason Arnold (the founder) is able to keep costs down and delivery fees low as it only delivers produce, not sundries such as tp or toothpaste, etc and it only makes deliveries once a week.

This is a growing field with several niche online grocers popping up in many cities across the USA. Why? Our attitudes are changing regarding where our food comes from and about online shopping.

Size isn’t necessarily an indicator of success in this market, says Ken Cassar of Nielsen Online, a consumer researcher, citing the rather spectacular failure of Webvan, a Foster City (Calif.) online grocery that overextended itself in the late 1990s. He estimates there are 250 online grocers nationwide, most of them small players. They’re benefiting from an interest in locally produced food and from consumers trying to save money by cooking rather than eating out.

What Do You Think?

What do you think of online green grocers. Do you use one? If not, would you use one? Share your thoughts below.

via Business Week / Small Biz