At a time when many Canadians face layoffs or precarious work situations, one company is seeking to hire hundreds of new workers every week provincially, and thousands nationally.

Canadian online grocery delivery service Inabuggy operates nationwide, from British Columbia to Quebec. Customers are able to enter their postal code and shop from retailers nearby, with the ability to have their orders delivered to them by a personal shopper.

Founder and CEO of Inabuggy Julian Gleizer says that while Inabuggy has been growing steadily over the five years it’s been around, the service experienced an almost overnight surge in orders due to the COVID-19-related quarantining measures that many began observing around mid-March.

So last week the company hired 150 workers to fill its personal shopper roles in the Greater Toronto Area (GTA).

As more and more people have started to remain at home, Gleizer says, the demand for grocery deliveries continues to grow immensely.

“We’re currently hiring shoppers, and we can’t hire [them] fast enough given the current demand,” Gleizer says. “Essentially, we are hiring hundreds of workers per week [in the GTA] and thousands of workers across the country […] to keep up with the growing demand.”

Gleizer says that the demand for deliveries is so great that while the service’s motto had been same-day delivery in as little as one hour, the wait time for groceries has now expanded to 24 hours or more.

@inabuggy Any sense how long orders are being delayed? I’m on day 2 and feel like delivery is going to be pushed back again. Just wish you guys communicated a little more

— Evan Flewelling (@EvanFlewelling) April 1, 2020

The long delivery-times are due to a couple of factors. “Right now we are experiencing limitations, shortage on stock, [purchase] limits on certain products,” Gleizer says.

“A lot of cleaning products like the Lysol wipes, the hand sanitizers, or the rubbing alcohol are out of stock.” A personal shopper, Gleizer says, will do their best to fulfill an order, but at the end of the day, they are at the mercy of retailers.

Another factor contributing to the delivery backlog says Gleizer is the lineups outside to maintain social distancing measures within the stores. Gleizer says he’s seen shoppers wait up to 1.5 hours in a line to get into a store.

But Inabuggy is doing its best to fulfill orders and prioritize delivery for the elderly and those who are immunodeficient, so that they can have their groceries delivered as soon as possible, Gleizer says.

He is hopeful that Inabuggy will be able to continue to hire as many Canadians as possible to meet the demand from customers of varying demographics who are staying home due to the COVID-19 pandemic, a demand he knows will continue growing.

Because after all, Gleizer says, “everybody eats.”