????本齊?羅內恩認為超市的時代即將結束，而他的公司正是加速其消亡的催化劑。

????羅內恩表示：“我們的目標是以生鮮為賣點，讓超市變得過時。”

????他5年前創建的Farmigo公司現擁有30名員工。這家公司出售直接從農民處購買的農作物和牛奶、乳酪等產品，售價比雜貨店的均價低10%到20%不等。其奧秘在于縮短了供應鏈，特別是去掉了中間環節。用戶直接在網上下單，農民將產品送到中轉站集中包裝，Farmigo公司再將包裹送到社區配送點，顧客從那里取走包裹。這一切都在48小時之內完成。

????羅內恩解釋道：“我們沒有零售店，我們完全去除了零售環節，但依然能夠及時供貨。”這意味著中間沒有冗余環節，農產品直接從莊稼地運送至顧客那里。

????Fresh Direct等其他零售商也取消了實體店。但羅內恩認為他們不過是超市模式的某種延伸，這類零售商依然跟超市一樣，擁有儲備大量存貨的倉庫。相反，Farmigo的中轉站只有由農民送來，即將送去顧客那里的農產品。

????他解釋道：“我們的整個食品供應系統是以規模效益為基礎的。”他補充說，這是對中心軸輻式配送模式的一種改良，在這種模式下，食品往往被運送幾百英里，經常在貨架上停留好幾周。他表示：“超市里的產品不夠新鮮，而且容易造成浪費。”

????如果羅內恩的愿景變成現實，不出十年，你將從亞馬遜（Amazon）等網站購買所有不易損害的物品，而Farmigo這類服務商會滿足你所有的生鮮產品需求，社區商店則會成為需要緊急購買商品時的備選方案。羅內恩認為，Farmigo絕不會成為備選方案。目前，如果客戶想在周三取貨，他或她最晚要在周日晚下訂單，但羅內恩表示該公司很快就將增加取貨天數。

????對一個小型初創公司而言，這是一個十分大膽的愿望，尤其是現在的顧客已經習慣于隨時享用草莓或番茄而不必考慮季節，習慣于品嘗空運自摩洛哥的克萊門氏小柑橘和智利的黑鱸，同時還希望他們購買的產品能在下單后24小時內送到家門口。

????目前這家位于布魯克林的公司只對紐約市和周邊地區，以及舊金山灣區提供服務。他們會提供不同的農產品——一部分是與季節有關的時令產品，另一些則是全年都有的主食。羅內恩認為，如果Farmigo可以在這兩個地區運作下去，該公司就能復制這一模式，建立一個覆蓋全美的農戶網絡。

????羅內恩表示，根據人們的購買習慣和購買方針來看，Farmigo最終可能會向20%至30%的美國人提供服務，而目前只有不到1%的美國人參與了“社區支持農業項目”（CSA）。參加CSA項目的顧客必須承諾在一個季度之內，每周都從某個農場訂購農產品。相比之下，Farmigo的顧客可以只發出一次性訂單，也可以每周選擇不同的農產品，根據訂單的變化隨時調整付款金額。羅內恩認為，CSA項目是對家門口小超市購物的補充，而Farmigo則是滿足所有生鮮食品需求的取代者。

????Benzi Ronen thinks that the supermarkets’ time is up. And his company is just the thing to speed up its demise.

????“Our goal is to make the supermarket obsolete from a fresh perspective,” Ronen says.

????Farmigo, his five-year-old 30-employee startup, sells produce and other products like milk and cheese purchased directly from farmers for 10%-20% less than equivalent grocery store items. He does it by shrinking the supply chain, essentially taking out the middleman. Users place an order online; the order is fulfilled by a farmer who transports it to a centralized packing hub; and then Farmigo delivers it to community drop-off points for the customer to pick up. This all happens within 48 hours.

????“We don’t have a retail store,” Benzi explains. “We get rid of all of that. We source just in time.” That means there’s no waste and produce is brought directly from harvest.

????Other sellers, such as Fresh Direct, also cut out the physical store. But Ronen argues that they’re just an extension of the supermarket model, with similar warehouses that keep a huge inventory on hand. By contrast, Farmigo’s hubs are filled exclusively with product that’s just been delivered by farmers and is going out for delivery.

????“Our entire food system is based on economies of scale,” he explains, adding that it has contributed to the hub-and-spoke distribution model in which food travels hundreds of miles and can sit on shelves for weeks. “You don’t get fresh in supermarkets, and you also have waste,” he says.

????If Ronen’s vision for the future becomes a reality, in 10 years you’ll get all of your non-perishables from the likes of Amazon, while a service like Farmigo will answer all of your fresh needs. Neighborhood stores will act as gap-fillers for last-minute purchases. Farmigo, he notes, will never be a gap-filler. Currently orders must be placed by Sunday night for pick-up on Wednesday, but Ronen says the company is on track to soon expand to multiple pick-up days.

????It’s a highly audacious vision for a small upstart, especially in a world where consumers are accustomed to eating strawberries and tomatoes no matter the season, enjoy clementines flown in from Morocco and sea bass from Chile, and want purchases delivered to their doorstep within 24-hour hours.

????Right now Brooklyn-based Farmigo operates just in New York City and its environs and the San Francisco Bay Area, markets picked for their divergent agricultural offerings–one strongly shaped by the seasons, the other with stellar food options year round. If Farmigo can operate in these two regions, Ronen thinks the company will be able to replicate the model and build a network of farmers across the country.

????Farmigo could eventually reach about 20%-30% of the U.S. population based on people’s buying habits and guidelines, Ronen says, adding that community-supported agriculture programs (CSAs) currently reach less than 1%. Unlike CSAs, in which users must commit to weekly deliveries for a season from one farm, Farmigo lets customers place a one-time order and change selections every week. You pay as you go. Ronen views CSAs as supplementary to other grocery shopping. He envisions Farmigo as a replacement for all fresh needs.