Why this startup built a grocery store filled with fake lobsters and bananas in the middle of its office

The fake grocery store in the middle of Instacart's office is not just weird office decor - although it wouldn't be out of place in some Silicon Valley offices.

Instead, The Garden is an active testing ground for the grocery delivery startup, and one that it constructed in less than 48 hours.

Now employees use the space to test everything from barcode-scanning algorithms in low light, to running Supermarket Sweep style speed contests.

Instacart let Business Insider visit The Garden inside its San Francisco headquarters.

Here's what it's like to have a fake grocery store in the middle of your office: