Instant Grocery Delivery Service Buyk Closes, Files Bankruptcy Over Russian Sanctions

Grocery delivery company Buyk has filed a petition for Chapter 11 relief, with its endgame being to shutter the company.

According to a Thursday (March 17) press release, the company plans to use the proceedings to wind down operations and get rid of its inventory and assets. Buyk added that as of March 4, the company is no longer operating any of its 39 stores in Chicago and New York City.

“We have diligently explored all possible options and partnerships to restructure Buyk and keep the business going, however, the war in Ukraine and subsequent restrictions in funding have unfortunately made it impossible to continue operations,” said CEO James Walker.

“I am extremely proud of the entire Buyk team for their amazing achievements since we launched the business last year,” Walker continued. “These are truly some of the most talented and dedicated people I have had the pleasure to work with in my career and I wish them much success in the future.”

In other grocery delivery news, Instacart has rolled out Shoppable Recipes, a new suite of product integrations letting food creators make their recipes shoppable on TikTok, Tasty and Hearst Magazines properties like Delish and Good Housekeeping.

Related: Instacart Adds Shoppable Recipes, TikTok Integration

Shoppable Recipes will partner Instacart’s grocery catalog with real-time artificial intelligence (AI) modeling, in order to find items in stock and available shoppers. Users can access it through a button in recipe videos on TikTok and other sites.

Asha Sharma, chief operating officer of Instacart, cited the company’s passion for food as a reason for the new activity.

Sharma added that by making popular recipes shoppable, Instacart is “helping people put that passion into action by picking up a few items from their favorite local store so they can create exciting new meals.”

The TikTok integration is powered through TikTok’s Jump program and lets viewers add required ingredients to their carts more easily.