Online grocer Delish Deliveries collapses – twice – with deceptive twist

Sean Cao

28th Jun 2024

Online grocer Delish Deliveries has collapsed for the second time in less than a year and is transitioning to a new owner amid customers’ complaints about deception and poor services.

Current owner Olivier Adolphe told the Sydney Morning Herald that the control of the company will be handed over to Umall Australia and that his involvement will cease at the end of this financial year.

“Our investors have faced challenges, and despite our efforts to improve the company, external political reasons and other factors beyond our control have necessitated this change,” Adolphe added.

Delish Deliveries was founded by Jaeger and Claire Richmond in Sydney in 2009, offering fresh fruit and vegetables. The business gained its customer base over the years thanks to the Richmonds’ personal touch and good service.

What most customers did not know was that the original company – Delish Wholesale – went into liquidation last October and the operation was taken over by Adolphe, who was one of the investors.

This resulted in a new company called Delish Group, and the information was quietly changed on the website and was hardly noticeable. The photo of Jaeger and Claire and their personal story remained on the website.

Customers started to experience a decline in service quality around the end of last year, with many ordered items missing, deliveries being days late, and refund requests unfulfilled.

As complaints piled up and dissatisfied shoppers took to social media, Jaeger became aware of the situation. He sent out a text message to the customer list he had access to last weekend, informing them about the ownership change.

The images of the couple were removed from the website earlier this week.

Umall Australia director Stan Chen told the Herald it will take on responsibility for all orders placed from June 26 onwards, and all refunds outstanding will remain the responsibility of The Delish Group to process.

“Following the acquisition, we will be retaining the brand and aim to win back customers with improved products and enhanced services,” Chen added.