Checkers Food Services is one of the best-kept secrets of online shopping in South Africa, I think. I’d heard about it a few years ago and signed up for an online account, but then was just too intimated to use it. And I’m an experienced, enthusiastic online shopper. When Checkers Sixty60 came along, I used that but when I needed to order dog food for delivery on the Cape Flats, well that was a disaster. They took the order but then later phoned to say that they don’t deliver in that area, which is about 2 KMs from where they are very willing to deliver. I was upset, man. Mess with human food, but don’t mess with food for animals that I feed! That’s when I looked online for different options.
None of the other big food retailers, like Pick n Pay, deliver there either so I needed a plan B. Plan B, it turned out, was hiding in plain sight. I logged into the CFS website – you need to log in to be able to browse and of course, make purchases – and tentatively messaged them via the chatbot. I asked when they would deliver if I placed an order that day. They said the next day. I didn’t say that I wanted delivery to the Athlone area on the Cape Flats.
The stock is not the same variety you might get when going to a Checkers store or even on the Sixty60 app, which can be somewhat frustrating, but also helps to make choices. For instance, there are just two brands of dog food, one of which the dogs I feed refuse to eat. Fortunately, they love the brand that is in stock, so it’s not a problem for me. One of the advantages is that there are items that you don’t normally find in a Checkers store or on the Sixty60 app, like Coimbra baked goods and bulk catering supplies for functions.
When I placed my first order, it said that there was no delivery fee for orders over R1000 and R100 delivery fee for less than R1000. Subsequently, it changed to no delivery fee for orders of R450 or more.
I chose to have my purchases delivered the following day to the address on the Cape Flats. CFS sent an email confirmation of the order and gave a delivery time within a 2-hour window. They sent another email the next morning as a reminder that delivery would take place. A huge delivery truck with friendly delivery people arrived the next day within the timeframe mentioned and delivered my order without any problems.
I’ve used Checkers Food Services many times in the last year or so and the process was pretty much the same each time. The prices are the same as in-store and on the app. You can link your X-tra Savings card and get the same discounts as in-store and on the app. CFS only delivers in the Western Cape and Gauteng though.
CFS is probably in my top 5 favourite online websites to shop from so, of course, I highly recommend it.
*Disclaimer: This is not an advert or a paid post. It is 100% my personal experience and views.
