Some Competition for Fresh Direct
In our recent post about Fresh Direct, one of our commentors mentioned a new website called Bread-n-Brie. The company hasn’t officially launched yet, but they seem to be taking a more mom-and-pop approach to delivering groceries. They set up a message board where they’re asking potential customers for advice — but instead adding to a…
In our recent post about Fresh Direct, one of our commentors mentioned a new website called Bread-n-Brie. The company hasn’t officially launched yet, but they seem to be taking a more mom-and-pop approach to delivering groceries. They set up a message board where they’re asking potential customers for advice — but instead adding to a laundry list of gourmet groceries they’d like to have delivered, most people are posting about their environmental concerns. They’re asking for food in recyclable containers, and a delivery service that doesn’t huge trucks — but nobody seems to have any suggestions for delivering groceries without trucks. Any ideas?
Bread-n-Brie [Homepage]
Can We Keep the Faith in Fresh Direct? [Brooklyn Record]
Something like this utility tricycle:
http://www.industrialbicycles.com/platform%20trike.htm
um, my suggestion was a joke, 9:39. they already have localized food pick-up centers throughout the city: they’re called Key Food, Associated, C-Town …
I order from Fresh Direct once a week. I LOVE those guys! I agree that the trucks are an environmental disaster however, having a localized pick up spot is really not the answer. There is no way I could carry (my weekly average of) 4 cases of water and three boxes of food which means that me, like everyone else who orders a week’s worth of groceries would have to take a car service to pick them up – and no – I don’t like the idea of car-pooling with strangers if only for the inconvience of coordinating, the extra time, and possible extra money involved. So, Jimmy Legs, I think people have thought about your idea, they just rejected it.
They cannot spell on their registration site.
i’m not bashing users of FD, but the notion that the company can continue to serve such a huge population AND be totally green is a bit of a stretch. hopefully they can come up with a better system, but you are paying for a convenience service that brings food to your door. that doesn’t exist in a vacuum, that stuff has gotta be moved somehow… biodiesel might be a good step tho.
I always throught that someone should start a lcoal delivery service by neighborhood. For example, I could call or email to order a few things from Sahadi, Fratelli, Fish Tales, Caputos and Staubitz. That would be well worth an extra charge!
Jimmy: Here’s the thing with FD. It’s not a matter of luxury. For me, it’s matter of eating food. My nearest supermarket is close by but the food there is total crap. The produce is hardly edible. The meat is pathetic. The other option is the overpriced “organic” fruit store where the stuff isn’t even that good for the price. So I use FD to get stuff that’s of good quality and good price so I feel like I’m eating well.
I agree with jescajeda. So many people have tried to start a grocery delivery service only to go under. I had a friend who worked as a programmer at FD for a while before it launched and even he joked about it failing. I’ll believe brad and brie is more than someone’s exploratory website when I get first delivery.
How about some standard size, stackable re-usable containers? Insulated ones for things that need to be kept cold to reduce the energy needed to keep the cooling system running in the trucks. Put deposits on the containers to ensure return.
It’s too bad diesel-hybrid tech is still expensive. If it was cheap enough, a diesel-hybrid truck with biodiesel would be much much more efficient and have a lower fossil fuel consumption. They’d probably be able to not run the combustion engine while stopped, which would seriously cut down on the idle noise and emissions.