Founder of Supie 'devastated' by closure of online supermarket
Tuesday, 31 October 2023
Supie founder Sarah Balle says she is “devastated” by the closure of the online supermarket.
On Monday, the company went into voluntary administration owing $3 million. Richard Nacey and Stephen White, of PwC New Zealand were appointed administrators.
The business did not have enough funding to trade while in administration and unless it received funding, it would likely go into liquidation.
”I’m devastated – I have put absolutely everything into Supie,” Balle said.
Stuff understands that over the past six weeks Supie's growth had slowed, leading to a key investor pulling support. Staff were then told they had lost their jobs and were unlikely to receive pay for the last two weeks they had worked.
”I’m so grateful for all Supie’s supporters – employees, customers suppliers and shareholders.
”Together we fought so hard to introduce competition in the market so that Kiwis could get a fairer deal for their groceries.”
Balle had been in meetings with PwC since Monday morning.
Ben Kepes was a director of Supie until Friday.
'Sarah, over several years, put her heart and soul into Supie. Her vision was always to make a fairer food system and, while ultimately unsuccessful, she got further than anyone else has been able to,” he said.
“She put everything into the business at the start and worked without stopping ever since.
“I feel fortunate to have worked with her over the past couple of years. Startups are risky, and many people have an opinion about them.”
Supie launched in mid-2021, aiming to create competition in the billion-dollar supermarket industry which is dominated by two players, Foodstuffs and Woolworths NZ.
The closure comes just days after Balle told Stuff the supermarket competitor would be expanding throughout the North Island early next year. It also had plans to open high-tech, unmanned stores in regional New Zealand.
A Supie investor update from the board of directors in April said the store was doing well and had grown orders by more than 150% in less than three months.
But it was experiencing pushback from multiple suppliers concerned that its prices were competitive with the duopoly and demanding that it increased retail pricing, despite maintaining reasonable profit margins.
The items were 1kg of loose tomatoes, brown onions, carrots and bananas, a head of broccoli, a 12-pack of size 7 eggs, a 2L bottle of milk, a 1kg block of cheese and a loaf of bread.
Supie was the cheapest place to buy the eight products, with the total coming to $42.78. This was followed by Pak ‘n Save at $43.51.
The Warehouse came in at $44, Countdown was $44.66 and New World was the most expensive at $47.26.