Wednesday, May 21, 2014

Grocery Home Delivery in Budapest

Parenting Secret Power Revealed: Grocery Home Delivery in Budapest


I am not a super hero, but I do have one or two parenting secret powers. I am happy to reveal the first one: grocery home delivery service.

I was thrilled to discover that Budapest has multiple home delivery services for groceries, including household goods, baby items, and office supplies. As a mother of two under two in Boston I discovered that I could shop online and have my groceries carried into my kitchen. Now that I am a mother of two under six in Budapest I still rely on the service. While it is easier to shop now that the kids are older, we live in a third floor walk-up in the heart of the city and don’t own a car. For no delivery fee in some cases, I can have all my bulky items carried up three flights of stairs!

If you have never used the service, you might have some reservations. The idea of a stranger selecting your chicken breasts is a bit nerve-wracking, I agree. For that reason I mostly use the service to buy heavy items: economy-sized clothing detergent, cleaning supplies, bulk amounts of organic milk, twenty four rolls of toilet paper, and the occasional summer watermelon. When I have ordered fruits and vegetables, I have been pleased. I suspect the person selecting my kiwis does a better job than me when I have two little people demanding my attention.


Pagony Közért
http://www.pagonykozert.hu/en/home
The Pagony Közért offers free home delivery in all districts within twenty-four hours of your order (for a minimum order of 4000 forints). They offer a variety of payment methods. In addition to food and drinks sections, they offer a baby section (with diapers, soaps, food), an international section, a pet section, and an organic selection of foods.

G’Roby
https://www.groby.hu/
G’Roby’s delivery is free with a minimum order of 50,000 forints, under that price there is a sliding scale. They have a very detailed explanation of their fee scale, a variety of payment methods, and delivery options on the website. G’Roby has a similar range of products compared to Pagony Közért. In my experience it has a better selection of organic products, which they list under a tab called “Health Shelf.”

Tesco
http://bevasarlas.tesco.hu/en-GB
Tesco’s service fee ranges from 600 forints up to 1200 forints and depends on the time of the delivery. Their selection matches what you can find in any Tesco store. In contrast to Pagony Közért and G’Roby, Tesco only accepts online payment. The delivery assistant does not accept cash and they are not allowed to accept tips.

Szatyorbolt
http://szatyorbolt.hu/
Szayorbolt is an alternative to the standard big-box grocery store, offering locally sourced products. While you can shop from their range of products, they use the weekly box concept. You can choose from various sizes and types of boxes filled with seasonal fruits and vegetables and you can swap items if you don’t need onions that week. They offer several pick-up locations around town. Their website suggests that they will deliver only by bicycle. While I have shopped in their store, I have yet to try delivery. Still it might be worth keeping on eye on this business and offer your support for their environmentally friendly model.

Neked Terem
http://www.nekedterem.hu/default.aspx
This company offers another alternative to the big-box store. They specialize in locally grown products and offer delivery on Fridays. The delivery fee ranges from 280 to 850 forints determined by your address. Similar to Szatyorbolt, Neked Terem uses the weekly box concept. Currently their website is only in Hungarian.


Have you tried grocery home delivery in Budapest?
Please share your experiences in the comments.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Can you confirm that Tesco delivery men in Budapest are not allowed to accept tips? Perhaps this policy has changed. We have given the various delivery men a small to every week for some time, they have never refused so far!

Janet Kelley said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Janet Kelley said...

When I corresponded with customer service on May 2, 2014, I was told that they do not accept tips. You may contact them here to see if the policy has changed: bevasarlas@tesco.hu