Instacart and Whole Foods cut ties

Instacart and Whole Foods are "winding down" their four-year partnership.

In a blog post, Apoorva Mehta, CEO of the San Francisco-based grocery delivery service, announced it would start phasing out its in-store shopper operations at Whole Foods early next year, resulting in 243 layoffs. More than 1,000 Whole Foods in-store shoppers, meanwhile, will be given the opportunity to switch to other participating retailers and will receive a transfer bonus to support the "overall transition."

In-store Whole Foods shoppers who choose not to, or cannot, be placed in a new role will receive a minimum of three-months separation package "based on your maximum monthly pay in 2018, as well as additional tenure-based compensation," Mehta said

READ: Instacart’s CEO on the importance of brick-and-mortar retail

Late last month, Instacart slashed prices on grocery delivery by a third, making the service a more competitive and affordable option than Amazon, which delivers groceries from Whole Foods through its Prime Now service.

Instacart picks, packs and delivers from 15,000 stores across more than 4,000 cities in the United States and Canada. The company partners with more than 300 retailers, and has nearly 800 employees and a community of 70,000-plus personal shoppers. It recently announced US$871 million in new funding, led by D1 Capital Partners, Tiger Global, Coatue Management and Valiant Capital, that raised the company’s valuation to $7.9 billion.