Ziscuit

Ziscuit is an Atlanta, Georgia-based startup operating a two-sided reverse auction marketplace for grocery shopping. Shoppers create and post grocery lists on the platform, and grocery retailers bid to fulfill them; the company also describes itself as a grocery search engine that instantly shops consumer lists against neighborhood stores and proposes combinations of store options intended to reduce cost and shopping time. Shoppers set auction preferences including full or partial bids, eligible store types, auction duration and shopping radius. The Ziscuit Auction Engine alerts eligible retailers, automates bid responses where approved, analyzes offers, assembles multiple bid combinations and ranks them by total savings relative to primary store prices; shoppers can re-rank results by convenience factors such as proximity to their home ZIP code or number of stops. Once a winning offer is selected, participating retailers pick and pack the order for pick-up.

The company positions its offering around food access as well as savings, stating it promotes independent, mom-and-pop grocery retailers and local consumer packaged goods brands by giving them customer reach at lower cost than large social media platforms. Ziscuit has described plans for standalone refrigerated food lockers in under-served communities affected by food insecurity and food deserts, alongside its search engine. A rewards mechanic issues "Ziscuit dollars" to shoppers for referrals and completed auction transactions, redeemable for groceries or home delivery or donatable to local food pantries registered on the platform; the company has said its foundation would donate one percent of profit as Ziscuit dollars to those pantries.

Founding story

Ziscuit was founded by Mark Anthony Peterson, who serves as CEO. Peterson holds a BA and an MBA from Dartmouth College and has more than two decades of senior executive experience across the food, consulting, data and biometrics industries; he previously founded PrideRock Holding Company and exited PrideRock Holdings in 2013 at a reported $20 million run-rate, and is the author of a book on small business strategy. The concept was framed against pandemic-era food insecurity data indicating roughly one in eight Americans often did not have enough to eat.

Business model

Ziscuit operates a marketplace intermediating between consumers and grocery retailers, monetizing both sides: consumers through premium accounts or pay-as-you-go services, and retailers through user- or location-driven seat licenses.

Stated revenue sources are premium consumer subscriptions, pay-as-you-go consumer services, and seat licenses sold to grocery retailers on a user or location basis.

Traction

Ziscuit has launched in two metropolitan markets, Atlanta and Birmingham, and has been selected into three support programs: Techstars Farm to Fork, the Innovation Depot Velocity Accelerator and the Google for Startups Black Founders Fund, the latter carrying a $100,000 non-dilutive award plus Google Cloud credits.

Latest developments

Following its 2023 Google for Startups Black Founders Fund selection, the company said it was beginning the roll-out of its grocery search engine together with standalone refrigerated food lockers in under-served communities, with a fully integrated launch planned for Birmingham, Alabama in 2023. Its founder appeared as a speaker at a Georgia Tech Scheller College of Business event in October 2023.