Grocery bills keep climbing, and somehow time feels harder than ever to find. Increasingly, Canadians are turning to online grocery delivery to save both time and money. Online grocery services can actually work towards solving for this. In this post, we’re comparing two services on opposite ends of the spectrum:
Voilà by Sobeys – The established giant offering maximum convenience (at a premium).
Tre’dish – The disruptive newcomer offering maximum savings (with a few trade-offs).
Both are great at what they do. We use both, we love both. So which one is right for you? Let’s talk about that.
Quick note: Some of the links below are affiliate links, and there is an optional referral code for Tre’dish. This means Maplecrafted may earn a small commission if you decide to try either service through these links. It never affects our opinions, and it never costs you anything extra. It just helps support the work we do testing Canadian services and writing reviews like this one.
Note: As Tre’dish only delivers in the Greater Toronto Area and some surrounding regions, this comparison may not apply to you.
However, if you’re thinking of giving Voilà a try then read on. This post may still contain some good information!
Voilà by Sobeys: The Convenience King
Backed by Sobeys, Voilà is built for one thing: making your life easier. It’s a premium service that leverages the massive scale of its parent company to offer an unparalleled online shopping experience.
The Highlights:
Massive Selection: Voilà is a true one-stop-shop. You can fill your cart with products from Sobeys, Farm Boy, Longo’s, Safeway, and more. With tens of thousands of items available, from fresh produce and meat to pantry staples and household goods, you’re almost certain to find your favourite brands.
Pinpoint-Accurate Delivery: This is Voilà’s killer feature. You can book a precise one-hour delivery window, often for the very next day. Where we are, the earliest window is 7am to 8am, and the latest is 9pm to 10pm. Super convenient.
Guaranteed Freshness: Orders are picked and packed by robots in high-tech fulfillment centers, not picked from store shelves. This means produce is as fresh or fresher than what you’d find at the large supermarkets in your area, orders are more accurate, and your items have a “guaranteed fresh” promise. The site has a nifty Guaranteed Product Freshness tag on many item listings that tell you the minimum time before any expiration dates. For example, on sour cream you may see a tag with “1w+ Product Life”. Super helpful if you’re the type to plan out meals and cooking.
Wide Delivery Area: Voilà delivers to many major Canadian urban centers, including the Greater Toronto and Hamilton Area, Ottawa-Gatineau, Greater Montreal, and Quebec City.
Scene+ Loyalty Program: If you’re a Scene+ points collector, Voilà is a huge win. You can earn and redeem points on groceries, which can also be used for movies, travel, and dining out.
The Cost: Convenience comes at a price. Prices tend to be the same as in-store at Sobeys, which isn’t as bad as an Instacart or Uber Eats grocery order, but not the most cost-effective compared to other in-store prices. A standard delivery adds a minimum of $7.99 per order as well, but frequent shoppers can opt for a “Delivery Pass” subscription for unlimited deliveries on orders over $50. This runs about $99 per year, but there are frequent promotions on this to bring the price down by as much as 50% off.
New customers get up to $60 total off their first four orders (and free delivery), which softens the landing if you’re trying Voilà for the first time. We didn’t sign up because of any promo and we’ve been using it for years, but it’s a nice way to test the service without committing.
To read our full review, check out our post Voilà by Sobeys Review: Three Years In, Here’s What We Actually Think. You can also explore the full Voilà retailer profile on our site.
Tre’dish: The Budget Champion
Tre’dish is the new kid on the block, and it’s built on a simple, powerful premise: cutting out the middleman to save you money. It’s a wholesale-to-consumer model designed to fight back against high grocery prices.
The Highlights:
Serious Savings: Tre’dish claims its model can save you 25% on your grocery bill compared to traditional stores. It achieves this by eliminating the costs of physical retail stores, big ad budgets, and other overhead. We’ll dive into this soon, the claim certainly seems to hold up though.
Transparent Pricing: In quite the bold move, the Tre’dish app has a feature that shows you real-time price comparisons for items against major local grocers. This lets you see your savings as you shop, building a huge amount of trust.
Focus on Local: While its selection of over 4,000 items is much smaller than Voilà’s, Tre’dish emphasizes quality and local sourcing, stating that around 70% of its products are Canadian-made.
Simple Membership: For a flat fee ($11.99/month or $99.99/year), the “Groceries+” membership gets you unlimited free delivery on orders over $30 and a simple 1% cashback in points on every purchase. If you’re not a member, it’s a flat $6.99 per order.
The Trade-Offs: The low prices require a bit of planning. Tre’dish currently only serves the Greater Toronto and surrounding area. Order by 10 PM the night before and you can get next-day evening delivery on select days with morning slots available the day after. Delivery runs Monday through Saturday in three-hour windows. Some produce may not look as “pretty” as what large supermarkets display, but the taste and quality are excellent. This model helps them keep costs and food waste down, but it won’t work for last-minute dinner needs.
New customers get $35 off their first order, $25 off their second, and $15 off their third using code MAPLECRAFTED at checkout (minimum $45 order, must order a starter box during sign up). When entering during checkout, this code bumps up the regular sign up bonus.
To learn more about Tre’dish, check out the Tre’dish retailer profile on our site. A full review can also be found in our post Tre’dish Review: The Cheapest Grocery Delivery in the GTA With an Actual Selection.
The Verdict: Should You Choose Convenience or Cost?
The choice between Voilà and Tre’dish comes down to what you value most: your time or your money.
First, let’s take a look at a typical item listing:
Tre’dish proudly displays its Transparent Pricing feature and the price is indeed lower. While the feature is only meant to compare in-store prices, this tends to apply fairly well to Voilà as well. Since the feature was initially rolled out, it has always been pretty accurate.
Now, for real world results. Our recent grocery haul for a big chili night (plus steaks, fries, and produce) totaled $106.58 on Tre’dish versus $137.33 on Voilà. This is a solid saving.
Still, price isn’t everything. Tre’dish requires planning at least a day ahead and delivers on fixed three-hour windows Monday through Saturday. If you need something specific or last-minute, Voilà’s wider selection and flexible one-hour slots make it worth the extra cost.
How We Use Tre’dish and Voilà
We use Tre’dish for weekly staples and Voilà when time or variety matters most. Like Thanksgiving dinner, when we want to buy some flowers with our groceries, or do a full freezer stock up from their absolutely massive frozen food section. Or when we want that buffalo dip from Farm Boy. We all have our guilty pleasures!
Conclusion
- Choose Voilà if… your schedule is packed and convenience is your top priority. The ability to get a huge variety of items delivered in a precise one-hour window is unmatched. If you’re a Scene+ power user, the choice is even easier.
- Choose Tre’dish if… you’re focused on cutting down your grocery bill and don’t mind planning ahead. The savings are significant and real, and their transparent pricing model is a refreshing change for shoppers tired of “big grocery.”
Ultimately, both services offer a fantastic alternative to the traditional grocery run. Voilà sells you back your time, while Tre’dish puts money back in your wallet. By deciding which of those resources is more valuable to you at any given time, you’ll know exactly which service to use. Both services lean heavily into their respective strengths and come highly recommended.
Tre’dish
Tre’dish Groceries is a grocery delivery service serving the Greater Toronto Area, focused on connecting consumers with fresh, locally sourced products. Their platform helps Canadians save money by buying directly from trusted producers and food brands, all while supporting the local community.
Voilà
Voilà is a Canadian online grocery service backed by Sobeys, delivering fresh food and household essentials directly to your door. Known for its high accuracy and freshness guarantees, Voilà also offers exclusive access to local brands like Farm Boy and Longo’s in select regions.
