A new app has launched in Syracuse, allowing grocery shoppers’ to save time and deliver food to their doorsteps.

The app, named Rosie, prepares groceries for users to be picked up at the store after the order is made, or can be delivered to the user’s doorsteps. Rosie developers see Syracuse as an untapped market because of how far apart grocery stores are in the city, said Claire Dorsett, the app’s press director.

The app already has initial interest, with two orders in Syracuse last Wednesday, even before it went online publicly, Dorsett said.

“They have an 80 percent retention rate for those who use it,” she said. “We just need to get them to try it once.”

Rosie started from a group of Cornell University, Columbia University and Wellesley College students, Nickitas said. The app was a finalist in Startup Weekend Cornell in Sept. 2012, according to its website.

It was also the winner of Startup Labs Syracuse in April with $200,000 in prize money: $150,000 in cash and $50,000 in marketing and brand services, Dorsett said. The app is already live in two P&C Fresh stores in Ithaca and Cortland.

A learning community at Syracuse University has created a marketing strategy competition to help advertise the app, she said.

The competition is a three-week, one-credit class that 40-50 students in the Creativity, Innovation, and Entrepreneurship Learning Community participate in, Erin Miller, the learning community’s mentor said in an email.

She added that the team was targeting students who live in apartments off-campus and on South Campus.

Rosie is currently contracted in Syracuse with Nojaim Brothers Supermarket, a downtown grocery store located at 307 Gifford St. The app has allowed the supermarket to expand distribution beyond its physical store footprint and also provide same-day delivery of “quality, fresh produce” to the downtown Syracuse area, said Paul Nojaim, owner of Nojaim Bros. Supermarket in a Oct. 10 press release.

“We are excited to continue to serve and care for our community and customers by bringing online grocery delivery to Syracuse for the first time,” Nojaim said in the release.

There is a $5.95 charge for in-store pickups, and a $9.95 charge for delivery, as well as an added fuel charge, according to the app’s website. The fuel charge is based on the price of gas as determined by the American Automobile Association, said Rosie App’s CEO Nick Nickitas.

“If you don’t have access to a car, we just want to make it super easy for students to get to a grocery store,” he said.

Between now and Thanksgiving, customers will be able to order from all five Mainesource Food and Party Warehouse stores located in Syracuse, along with four other locations in New York and Pennsylvania, Nickitas said. Both Nickitas and Dorsett said Rosie is a time-saver and would be able to help everyone.

“It’s easy and convenient, just what college kids are looking for,” Miller said. “Rosie also reminds you when you need to buy more groceries, so you do not have to make a grocery list from scratch every single time you get food.”

Published on October 15, 2013 at 2:31 am

Contact Caroline: cstrange@syr.edu