Peapod enhances offerings

Internet grocery service Peapod LLC, which shares a corporate parent with the Stop & Shop Supermarket Co., said it is providing enhanced options for its small business customers.

Peapod had been fulfilling orders for both residential and small business customers from a Stop & Shop in Watertown; now a Stop & Shop in Boston's Allston neighborhood will focus on orders for Peapod's local small business customers, the company said.

By using a second Stop & Shop as a fulfillment center, Peapod said it can offer its business customers more flexible delivery windows and additional capacity.

According to Peapod, its service makes sense for small businesses such as law firms and design firms that want to stock the company kitchen with such items as frozen dinners, fresh juices, and vitamin waters as well as occasional deli and pastry platters.

Offices with fewer than 100 employees is "a high-growth potential area for our business" as such companies increasingly look to "provide convenient, nutritious food and beverages on-site for employees," Peapod president Andrew Parkinson said in a statement.

Chicago-based Peapod and Quincy-based Stop & Shop are both owned by Royal Ahold, a Dutch food company.
(By Chris Reidy, Globe staff)