Ocean City Woman Brings Groceries To Doorstep During Pandemic

OCEAN CITY, NJ—During the pandemic, grocery shopping proved to be a difficult task due to store capacity limitations, a high demand for groceries and the health risk it presents for immunocompromised individuals.

Bridget Kelly, an Ocean City resident and a mother of five children, saw these challenges first-hand while working as a shopper for the grocery delivery service app, Dumpling.

Since Kelly began working for Dumpling in late-April, she has served over 100 customers. As a shopper, Kelly ventures to stores for customers of all ages, including ones who are elderly and immunocompromised.

“My older customers are so thankful. They treat me like their family member,” Kelly said. “All my other customers are also so thankful. I have one customer whose little daughter paints me pictures and hangs them in the front window so I can see. That one had me in tears as soon as I walked up the steps.”

While grocery shopping during the pandemic, Kelly has struggled at times to find paper products, cleaning supplies and canned goods on store shelves. She will travel to different stores to find the products customers request and pick up items that can be hard to find whenever they are in stock for her regular customers.

Before starting her own grocery delivery business with Dumpling, Kelly worked as a shopper for a different grocery delivery service until she realized that service marked up prices and excluded shoppers from “buy 1, get 1” deals.

“I started taking a closer look and I could not believe the mark ups. It made me feel like I was ripping off the customers,” Kelly said.

Dumpling differs from other grocery delivery services because it does not restrict shoppers to one store, which Kelly said has been an important feature throughout the pandemic if she needs to visit multiple stores to secure items for her customers.

The other unique feature of Dumpling is that customers can choose the shopper they hire instead of allowing the app to randomly pair them with an available shopper. By shopping for customers on a consistent basis, Kelly developed a bond with her customers as she was able to learn more about their preferences and dislikes.

“During this pandemic, it is important for customers to know their shoppers so that they can rest assured that all the sanitization and other safety measures are being performed and that they have someone they can rely on to keep their homes stocked during their time of need,” Kelly said.

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