A farm and grocery store based out of Toronto that delivers local, organic groceries to residents all over the city is hiring people who've been laid off by restaurants to help with increased demand amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

CEO and founder of Fresh City Farms Ran Goel sent a letter to customers Friday morning addressing concerns about late deliveries and missing products due to a major surge in demand. 

So...if you don't like standing in line at the grocery store, I'm a proud member of @freshcityfarms. All kinds of good (and a lot of local) produce and other foods. And right now, delivery is free.

— Gavin Day (@gavinlday) March 13, 2020

"I know there have been some late deliveries and a lot of products missing in your deliveries. Please appreciate that our teams -- chefs, retail associates, dishwashers, customer support, pickers, drivers, receivers, stockers -- have literally been working around the clock to keep our stores stocked and online orders fulfilled," he said. 

"Almost overnight on Friday last week, we saw a huge surge of 3x to 5x normal volumes both in store and online."

But Goel reassured customers that the company is doing everything in their power to ensure they receive the food they order, including hiring people who've been laid off since the pandemic began. 

"We are hiring and training people laid off by restaurants and other businesses to help in every aspect of the business," he said.

He said they've also streamlined kitchen operations in order to maintain consistency throughout the pandemic, and Goel reassured customers that there is no shortage of food despite the increased demand, and therefore no need to hoard. 

Fresh City Farms — one of the more sustainable companies to buy groceries from in Toronto — also recently announced that they'd be waiving delivery fees until May 15 and doing non-contact delivery throughout the COVID-19 pandemic.