In late March of 2020, my paternal grandfather died of complications from Covid 19. Being a 95 year old man in a nursing home in New Jersey, his demographic made this highly likely, but obviously still a shock to our family. My mother, at the time, was stuck in New Jersey as well. She was with her mother who had just had hip surgery, and with the arrival of Covid 19 had no way to fly home to Texas. My dad, whose father had just passed, was stuck in Texas. Alone. This confluence of circumstances made him consider something he\u2019d never have dreamed of but a few months ago: purchasing groceries through an App.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Fortunately for him, HEB, a much beloved Texas Grocery chain (think Wegmans of Texas) had been considering its digital future for a while now, and the recent pandemic had accelerated plans. Texas is first in the nation when it comes to filing for federal emergencies, as the state is battered by heat waves, cold snaps, hurricanes, flooding, and more. Often, local grocers are the first companies to open their doors, hire new people, and start to do business after one of these events happens. In the past, HEB had relied on their emergency-response team to deal with these situations after the fact, but in late 2019, they started to look at a new strategy led by digital solutions [1].<\/p>\n\n\n\n