CHARLOTTE – The online grocer Farmstead, based in Burlingame, California, is expanding its online grocery delivery services, including one-hour delivery, to Charlotte, including the Queen City’s suburbs.

The expansion will include all households that are within a one-hour drive of the company hub, which is just north of Charlotte-Douglas Airport, according to a statement shared with WRAL TechWire today by a company spokesperson.

The company has been testing its service in the area, and saw rapid growth that beat company projections, said Pradeep Elankumaran, co-founder and CEO.

The expansion is coming on the heels of a national partnership with DoorDash, which enables the fulfillment of one-hour delivery and will soon allow grocers to list their own brands on DoorDash’s app and websites to increase reach, the company said.

Farmstead is currently open in three markets: the Bay Area, Raleigh-Durham, and Charlotte, and plans to open in Nashville and Miami in the coming weeks and at least 13 other metro regions by the end of the year.

The company uses artificial intelligence and what it calls a “dark store model” that allow it to deliver many thousands of orders each day, which the company says allows it to compete on price without service fees for delivery or upcharging for items like produce or fresh meat.