If you’ve lived in Costa Rica long enough, you know grocery shopping can be a half-day to full-day project.
Great things are abundant in Costa Rica. Grocery shopping, usually done efficiently, is hardly one of them, especially for healthy products and organic produce.
Most expats know the routine. One grocery store for imported goods. Another for decent produce. A farmers’ market for “organic” vegetables, and you’d better arrive early. A specialty shop if raw dairy or clean meats are required. Throw in driving, checkout lines, rainstorms, and half the day vanishes in grocery shopping around town.
That frustration is why so many people across Costa Rica have started relying on Market and More.
This year marks the specialty grocery delivery company’s sixth year. After talking with customers for a while and taking a look at how a successful business is built, the reasons for their growth become quite evident.
Market and More are filling a void that regular stores cannot yet fill.
Market and More is giving Tico Times readers 10% off their first order. Click here to have the discount automatically applied and get premium Costa Rica groceries delivered straight to your door.
Not Your Ordinary Grocery Store
Costa Rica doesn’t lack supermarkets. What it lacks is consistency, specialty merchandise, and convenience all in one place.
That is an area, Market and More stood out early. Instead of focusing on mere groceries, the company built a reputation for harder-to-find products that expats and health-conscious families constantly seek.
The types of products consumers typically go back and forth between three or four stores to find. Their catalog recently expanded to over 3,600 products, adding new products each week. It is the variety that surprises most people.
Customers can order:
- Fresh organic fruits and vegetables.
- Local artisanal products.
- Free-range chicken and eggs.
- Grass-fed and Angus Prime beef.
- Clean pork.
- Lamb meat.
- Deli meats
- Specialty imported products.
- Raw milk, yogurt, butter, and specialty cheeses.
- Goat products.
- Prepared meals.
- Fresh bakery products.
- Sweets and snacks.
- Organic pantry staples.
- Kombuchas and other fermented foods.
- Gluten-Free products.
- Vegan products.
- Vitamins, supplements, and health products.
- Pricesmart products.
- Wine and other alcohol.
- Pet foods, including raw pet food.
- Kitchen appliances and other household products.
- So much more!
That last bit of material shocks people. Market and More is no longer simply about groceries. The site seems like a hand-picked marketplace rather than a typical online grocery shopping site. And to be honest, that matters here in Costa Rica. Here, too, many stores carry the same products over and over. Same brands, same inventory, same limitations.
Once one finds a service constantly churning out new specialty products, people tend to stick with it.
Fresh Produce or It’s Free
That guarantee says a lot. Anyone who has lived in Costa Rica long enough knows how erratic the quality of produce can be in grocery stores. In transit, lettuce spoils quickly, and herbs wilt fast in the heat. That is why Market and More uses refrigerated trucks and delivers the produce one or two days after it is picked from the farmers.
Fruits and vegetables are difficult to control, so most businesses try to avoid making strong guarantees.
Market and More went the other way. Their promise is simple. Fresh produce! Or it’s free.
That confidence typically comes from experience and from structures that already work.
In reviews, customers routinely note the quality of produce. Crisp greens and fresh herbs. Vegetables that don’t look like they were kept in the back of a warm delivery truck for two days.
That consistency itself matters more than fancy branding ever will.
Customer Service Matters
One of the reasons Market and More has lasted six years is simple. Customer service is something they take seriously. That may sound obvious, but anyone who lives in Costa Rica knows reliable customer service can be hard to find.
Businesses that have a handle on communication, like Market and More, are better remembered because they are rare enough to stand out from competitors and memorable enough for people to remember.
Market and More has attracted a strong following by consistently doing little things right in a straightforward way.
Market and More Customer Service Guarantee:
- Always friendly customer support and delivery drivers.
- Responding quickly to WhatsApp and emails.
- Fixing problems without arguments.
- Cold chain handling for dairy, meat, and frozen products.
- Being clear in communication with customers.
- Driver delivery tracking with accurate estimated time-of-arrival messages.
- Delivery updates if delays happen.
- Easy refunds or store credits when mistakes happen.
That reliability engendered trust, particularly among expats accustomed to quality service back home.
The company now boasts a long list of 100% five-star reviews from customers in Costa Rica, and much of that feedback says the same thing again and again. Amazing customer experience, fresh produce, great products, and most importantly, consistency.
Read all their Facebook reviews: https://marketandmorecr.com/testimonials/
Finally, Online Grocery Shopping Makes Sense in Costa Rica
Driving to many stores for routine needs gets old quickly. That is why, in recent years, online grocery shopping has become much more common in Costa Rica. Part of it is convenience, but the main reason is the quality of the foods you just can’t find in your average grocery store.
People are looking for better products that don’t cost hours to find. That is exactly the audience Market and More is catering to. Busy professionals, families, retirees, expats, and health-conscious shoppers. Individuals who care about their food and do not want grocery shopping to take over their week.
Market and More also does a good job of balancing imported goods with local Costa Rican products in their product offering. That balance matters. Costa Rica has wonderful local producers, but many small artisanal companies struggle to gain exposure and distribution.
Market and More provides customers access to products they’d never be exposed to otherwise. That means locally made specialty artisanal products made with real ingredients not often encountered in an average grocery store. Supporting small local artisanal producers is a core part of the Market and More business model, helping businesses across Costa Rica reach customers who would otherwise never discover their products.
Where They Deliver
One thing that customers really appreciate is the remote areas they service. For expats living outside major urban centers, Market and More has been a lifesaver. They focus on delivery to expat beach towns and mountainous areas, and also offer their service to the city.
See a full list of their delivery routes here: https://marketandmorecr.com/locations/
Why They’ve Lasted Six Years
Costa Rica can be a difficult place to do business. Food delivery is even tougher. Logistics are complicated. Inventory changes constantly. Overnight, supply chains can become unpredictable. Every single year, customers rightfully demand more. A lot of companies launch with buzz and fade away in the quiet a year later.
Market and More continued to grow because they wanted to solve real problems rather than end up just another generic grocery store.
People craved specialty products. They wanted consistent delivery. People wanted better produce. People wanted the option of cleaner food. Folks did not want to feel annoyed by the customer experience.
The company organized itself around those demands, and customers saw it. That is often how strong companies thrive in Costa Rica. They solve real problems consistently over time.
Six years in, they are still growing, still creating new customers, expanding their product line, and still building loyal customers throughout Costa Rica.
After six years in business, the company’s slogan feels less like marketing and more like an accurate description of what they built: “We Bring the Market and More to Your Door.”
