Feb 9, 2007 9:11 AM, from staff and wire reports

Internet grocer Peapod fulfilled its 10 millionth order Feb 7, 2007. The customer receiving this order will not only get free groceries for six months, but the order also will be delivered by the founders themselves: brothers Andrew and Thomas Parkinson, who delivered the first order 17½ years ago.

“Peapod’s delivery of 25 million bananas could be strung together from San Francisco to Washington DC,” said Thomas Parkinson. “We have sold enough milk to fill 21 Olympic-size pools and have sold nearly 2 million pounds of coffee.”

The company also has saved about 10 million hours in trips to the grocery store.

Founded in 1989 in Evanston IL, Peapod began test-marketing in that city in July 1990 with about 400 households. It would provide software and even sell modems customers would need to dial in directly to the firm. The Parkinson brothers would do the picking and packing themselves, making deliveries in their own cars, with their wives and other friends helping as needed. Peapod soon extended into other markets and began taking orders on its own web site in 1998.

Skokie IL-based Peapod is a wholly owned subsidiary of Dutch-based Royal Ahold.