Friday, May 16, 2025



Wes alums deliver groceries to your home

Fifteen years ago brothers Andrew ’80 and Thomas ’82 Parkinson started a home-delivery grocery company using a client-server computer software program they created. Since then, the company called Peapod has grown, and now delivers groceries and other items ordered over the Internet to customers in areas including Chicago, Boston, Washington, D.C., and Hartford.

“If you value your time in any way, it’s a good deal,” Thomas Parkinson said.

Shoppers place their orders online at Peapod.com, which gives the option of next-day deliveries on most orders. The delivery charge ranges between five and ten dollars depending on the amount purchased. According to the company’s Corporate Fact Sheet, Peapod had 147,000 customers in 2003, and an order average around $143. Peapod works with Stop & Shop and Giant Food, and through its own warehouses to fill orders.

According to Thomas Parkinson, customers can sort items and compare prices and nutrition facts online. Weekly discount specials are listed and manufacturer’s coupons are accepted. The website offers over 8,000 products, including fresh produce, office supplies and videos.

“All to try and make you a smarter shopper,” Thomas said, also mentioning that they sell more items in one order than other online services such as Amazon.com.

The largest clientele of Peapod is among dual income couples and families, Peapod is also used by college and graduate students, especially at Northwestern University in Chicago where the company started, according to Andrew Parkinson.

“Peapod is great for college students as most don’t have time to grocery shop with busy schedules. College students are internet savvy and feel comfortable shopping online,” wrote Elana Friedman, the Peapod media contact, in an email.

The website is used by a wide variety of people, including those with disabilities, those who cannot leave their homes and the elderly, said Thomas.

“[For people with disabilities who are home-bound] it alleviates the need to have a friend or relative bring groceries to them. The Peapod drivers will happily bring all of the bags and set them on your kitchen counter,” Friedman wrote.

Both Andrew and Thomas reflected on their time at the University. Thomas said he has just received a thank-you note from Midge Bennet, wife of President Doug Bennet, for a Peapod basket that he sent her.

“We both loved Wesleyan from the perspective of diversity. I liked it because of liberal arts, and I wish I had taken more arts and history classes,” said Andrew, who majored in economics.

Post-graduation, Andrew went to work for Proctor and Gamble, and after conducting research on the grocery business, concluded that most people do not actually like grocery shopping. He then teamed up with his brother to start Peapod in 1989.

Thomas Parkinson majored in art at Wesleyan, and after went on to get a design degree. At the University, he created the “Wesleyan is NOT…” tee shirt that is still sold on campus. After selling a number of those tee shirts, he said he began to make tee shirts for groups and clubs on campus as well, manufacturing them in the basement of Psi Upsilon.

“That sort of turned me into the tee shirt guy at Wesleyan,” Thomas said.

He and Andrew also invented a keg carrier, and sold the carrier and the tee shirts under the name of Parkinson Products.

“We’ve been entrepreneurs a long time,” Thomas said.

While Thomas took only one computer science course at Wesleyan, he later started a software company with a partner in New York City after working at Proctor and Gamble in sales for a year and a half. He worked mainly on designing software that is user-friendly.

When Peapod started, the brothers wrote their own client-server interactive program, and then shifted to the Internet around 1995.

“Now I feel like this is the best place, with designing, technology, and running my own business,” Thomas said.

This year Peapod is celebrating its 15 -year anniversary. According to the Fact Sheet, the company has had a growth rate of about 25 percent. In 1996, it was ranked in the “Inc. 500” for fastest-growing U.S. companies in ‘Inc.’ magazine. In 2000, the Peapod partnered with Royal Ahold, which gave it access to Stop & Shop and Giant Food.

Peapod can be accessed at http://www.peapod.com. Use the discount code EM100938 to get $15 off your first order, courtesy of the Parkinson brothers.

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