Efoodz acquires collapsed CoLab

Gourmet food delivery platform CoLab announced it fell into voluntary administration earlier this month and has been seeking a buyer. SmartCompany has today revealed that CoLab has found a buyer in fellow meal delivery company and former supplier, Efoodz.

CoLab, the gourmet ready-to-cook meal and grocery delivery startup launched in August last year, a merger of gourmet restaurant-made meal delivery company ChefPrep, and Co-Lab Pantry, an online boutique food market. CoLab collapsed into voluntary administration due to unforeseen circumstances as it failed to secure a new round of funding at the end of March.

Efoodz was founded in 2021, a healthy alternative to convenient ready to eat meals. Handmade and fresh, Efoodz prides itself on a kitchen to door cook to order system, with its meals guaranteed to be delivered from kitchen to customer in 48 hours, without freezing.

With facilities already in place, the sale, according to Efoodz founder Andy Lam, was a no-brainer.

Efoodz was a supplier for CoLab and according to SmartCompany, the sale was sparked when the founder received an email from CoLab administrators asking him what he would like to do with unsold stock, which kicked off sale negotiations.

Speaking to SmartCompany, Efoodz founder Andy Lam explained that CoLab would operate separately from Efoodz and that, “with everything that’s happened, the relationships have been tarnished and burned and suppliers will be reluctant to hand over stock again. So we will probably have to change up the model,” he said.

With an undisclosed price, the sale will include CoLab’s intellectual property and digital data and is expected to be complete by April 28.

This news comes as a beacon of hope for meal delivery services following the collapse of MilkRun this month, which some saw as a signal that the lockdown induced demand was gone for good amid inflation. In a similarily positive light, Dinnerly, a meal kit brand under the Marley Spoon group has recently announced it will be combatting inflation by offering its customers a price freeze on its core menu until the end of September.

The ecommerce landscape is changing. With a Power Retail Switched On membership, you get access to current e-commerce revenue and forecasting, traffic levels, average conversion rate, payment preferences and more!