Benlai (literally meaning Original) is a B2C eCommerce site providing safe and healthy food. Currently, its service is only restricted in Beijing.
Benlai offers a wide range of food, including vegetables, fruits, poultry, egg, milk, fish, seafood and so on. The company has established relationship with Chinese and oversea high quality food suppliers. Users make the payment online and the food will be kept in cold-storage and delivered directly to their home.
To ensure food safety, the company need pick some samples from each batch of food and test 43 routine items. Buyers are encouraged to compile experiences of purchasing into stories and post them on the website with nice pictures. Of course, these types of food are more expensive than those you get in the local market, so it aims at middle- and high-income people.
It’s not new for a startup tapping into the food industry, but it’s rather difficult to stand out we have to say so. The entire process, such as quality control, restoration of fresh food and transportation are all hot potatoes to tackle.
Benlai is founded by a former executive in Netease (NASDAQ: NTES). We’ve been told that it has RMB 50 million registered capital, planning to stretch their service from Beijing to Shanghai and Guangzhou with its RMB 200 million funding.
