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May 9, 2007

Fresh Direct Expanding to Other Side(s) of the Park?

freshdirecttruck323.jpg
We got a tip this morning (based on a post here) that Fresh Direct will soon begin delivering to the several new zip codes further south and east of Prospect Park than they've delivered to date. We just spoke with Fresh Direct and here's the more detailed breakdown by zip code:

11230 - full coverage
11210 - partial coverage
11229 - partial coverage
11226 - full coverage
11223 - partial coverage

As if Brooklynites didn't have enough reasons to be jealous of those who live in Victorian Flatbush this time of year! We're expecting a full press release to come out by the end of the day which will (hopefully) include more specifics about the boundaries of the new delivery zones. On a related note, our contact at FD alerted us to another cool piece of news: The company is now using 100% post-consumer use recycled materials for their boxes.
Photo by Frank Lynch




Posted by Brooklyn Record at 10:03 AM | Comments (20)
Categories: Food and Drink

Comments

I expect my life to change completely now.

I'm going to have to think seriously about which parts of my old, pre-FreshDirect life are worth salvaging and which should simply be allowed to fade away.

Truly the dawn of a new era.

But seriously, this is great news for a lot of people.

By the way, Mr. B, I've been finding that my comments need to be approved by you every single time I post, not just the first time. Are you trying to tell me something? :)

Posted by: Anonymous at May 9, 2007 10:48 AM

I'm having the same problem with comments, too, 10:48.

Posted by: EJ at May 9, 2007 11:18 AM

I've lived in Ditmas Park since 2000 and we're still waiting for Fresh Direct to deign to deliver to our street--Beverley just off of Coney Island Avenue. As far as I'm concerned Fresh Direct can take a flying leap off the Brooklyn Bridge. Between the opening of the enormous Fairway Market in Red Hook and the upcoming opening of Whole Foods in Park Slope, I feel that Fresh Direct is loosing a valuable lead in servicing this neighborhood.

Posted by: dan silverman at May 9, 2007 3:32 PM

I'm @ 125 Ocean (11225) and I order from Fresh Direct all the time!

Posted by: Anonymous at May 9, 2007 3:45 PM

Well they gotta get the most out of their increase in their delivery charge to Brooklyn.

Posted by: Anonymous at May 9, 2007 4:08 PM

I live in Williamsburg and Fresh Direct still won't deliver to me. I guess too many brown people still live here and that makes FD scared.

Posted by: Anonymous at May 9, 2007 4:15 PM

"I'm @ 125 Ocean (11225) and I order from Fresh Direct all the time!"

Yes...and your point is? You announce this as though it must involve some violation of the laws of physics.

Posted by: Anonymous at May 9, 2007 4:23 PM

I live in Bed-Stuy (11216) and FD won't deliver to me even though they have to drive through Bed-Stuy from their location in LIC to deliver to Fort Green and Clinton Hill. Does this make any sense? I think the prior ccomment re brown skin is on point.

Posted by: Anon at May 9, 2007 5:15 PM

FG and Clinton Hill are majority black, so I don't think skin color is the determinative factor.

Posted by: Anonymous at May 9, 2007 5:52 PM

FYI, recent data is showing Fort Greene as 52% white. To hell with Fresh Direct for not delivering to Bedford-Stuyvesant and many parts of Harlem. Those of you on the blog who aren't personally offended should be. If there were really some unity in Brownstone Brooklyn we could make a show of force that all nabes get the same delivery service from Fresh Direct.

Posted by: Anonymous at May 9, 2007 7:05 PM

Besides their neighborhood exclusivity - there is another major problem I have with Fresh Direct. It seems to be the least environmentally correct way for people in the city to get food. Have you seen those huge trucks idling and driving around. The amount of gas used is huge. If every neighborhood had a quality store in their hood I imagine many brooklynites would walk with shopping carts to buy their groceries (old school). Foot power not gas!

Posted by: Anonymous at May 9, 2007 7:32 PM

--To hell with Fresh Direct for not delivering to Bedford-Stuyvesant and many parts of Harlem.--

Look, they can't serve everywhere. They only recently started service to my part of Bay Ridge, which they drove through in order to get to areas that they did serve, and you didn't hear me cry then.

If they don't think they'll get enough business from an area, or lets face it if an area has a higher than average crime rate, then they have every right in the world not to go there.

------

--Have you seen those huge trucks idling and driving around.--

Absolutely. And I've seen their huge boxes all over the place too, a big source of waste.

Fresh Direct has a terrific service and business model, but the their overwhelming success is due to the fact that NYC has on balance the worst supermarkets in America. Almost any suburb in NJ or LI has better supermarkets than 90% of NYC neighborhoods.

We have foo-foo places like Whole Foods in the yuppie neighborhoods and cramped ratholes most everywhere else. Its a wonder that everyone in the city doesn't use Fresh Direct.

NYC has largely solved the crime problem, but has barely put a dent in its supermarket problem.

I used to have a medium size A&P that I could walk to, now I drive from Bay Ridge to Fairway in Red Hook.

Houston, we have a problem. And it ain't Fresh Direct.

Posted by: The Phantom at May 9, 2007 11:11 PM

"If every neighborhood had a quality store in their hood I imagine many brooklynites would walk with shopping carts to buy their groceries"

Yeah, and if I had wings I could fly like a birdie!

Posted by: Aristocrat at May 10, 2007 9:57 AM

"It seems to be the least environmentally correct way for people in the city to get food. Have you seen those huge trucks idling and driving around. The amount of gas used is huge."
I'm sorry but I don't buy that. How is food in supermarkets transported there? By truck, usually. In boxes. And then the food gets taken out of a box and onto the shelf and then into a bag when you take it home. It's LESS wasteful to shop via Fresh Direct, I think.

Posted by: Anonymous at May 10, 2007 10:25 AM

--It's LESS wasteful to shop via Fresh Direct, I think.--

Don't think so, as the food still has to be trucked to Fresh Direct. And then trucked again as deliveries are made to the customers.

Of course none of those customers need to drive to the market.

But the net use of large boxes is unquestionably more with Fresh Direct. They never reuse the boxes that they received the food in, as a neighborhood deli might do, they use new FD boxes every time.

Immensely wasteful

Posted by: The Phantom at May 10, 2007 11:26 AM

So..the boxes are cardboard and totally recyclable. And it probably translates into fewer plastic bags that are not recyclable.

Posted by: Anonymous at May 10, 2007 12:01 PM

I don't mean to quibble or pick a fight, but... yes, food still goes from, say, a farmer to FD HQ to the customer. But, with a regular supermarket, it often does not go right from the farm to the supermarket. It goes through a distributer and/or supermarket HQ. I really still think FD is less wasteful. Also it's less incentive for people to drive or own cars.

Posted by: Anonymous at May 10, 2007 1:03 PM

Fresh Direct is terrible for the enviroment, all the non profit groups who have looked at this issue agree. Besides the excessive packaging, think of all those trucks double parked and still running! Drivers are in fact not allowed to turn off the engines. Grocery stores in NYC are centralized distribution centers. Trucks deliver there in highly space efficient packaging, then pedestrians take the grocercies the final blocks home. Fresh Direct uses trucks to deliver a box to your door that contains exactly one loaf of bread. Save the planet and shop at your local store.

Posted by: Octavio at May 12, 2007 12:24 AM

When a store opens in my nabe I will shop there. Until then...

Posted by: Anonymous at May 14, 2007 12:31 PM

Yikes- pick your issue- if FD was just a money loving, earth killing greed machine- why wouldn't they deliver to all the neighborhoods they could- just to f**k everyone? Maybe they're actually sparing "the brown people" or maybe their trucks get robbed? There must be some logical reason that they would pass on a viable market. Maybe McDonald's pays them to not deliver to their Dollar Meal territories.

Posted by: anon at June 11, 2007 8:39 PM

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