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FreshDirect founder Joseph Fedele is raising the ire of Fairway owners by referencing his experience with Fairway's Harlem location in FreshDirect ads.
One of Fairway's owners, Howard Glickberg, says Fedele has "been riding on our backs" since leaving Fairway in 1998, as well as telling "people he created Fairway uptown, and that wasn't his role.". Fedele counters, "They could not have established Fairway uptown without me. I was the president, and I have a right to talk about my history. All I say is that I was the co-founder, and they can't dispute that."
Fedele told Businessweek in a Q&A, "People don't need to touch, feel, and smell food. They just think they do.... People don't want to smell a cantaloupe. They want to know if it's ripe. People buy based on attributes or functionality -- ripeness, sweetness, a cheese to go with a certain kind of wine. Our site educates them on how to do that." Hmm, Gothamist knows we don't need to smell a bottle of laundry detergent, but there's a sensual pleasure with picking out food ourselves and seeing that there are zucchini blossoms, which changes our idea of the menu.
New York magazine also took a look at FreshDirect, wondering if it can survive here. But Gothamist wants to know why FreshDirect can deliver to Jen's apartment, but can't deliver to Jake's. Okay, only Jake wants to know.
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well i have to say my first expeiernce with Fresh Direct was a positive one- Sure the idea of just clicking on items rather than seeing them may be a bit suspect at first, but everything i received was of higher quality than that I would get at the Associated around the corner from my apt, and the prices were lower. They also provide a good amount of data to make up for the fact that you cant have any pre-purchase physical contact with the food.. for example, i'm a guy that likes his olives- on the site, they had a comparasion chart of all their olive types, giving them ratings for size and firmness... I may never set foot in a supermarket again.
I would really think this type of food shopping would really cut back compulsive spending in the supermarket, i.e. those extra two magazines bought at the check-out line.
totally- i need to get down with freshdirect. my experience in 1999 and 2000 with kozmo and urban fetch was amazing- i look back on those years as the best of my life. ice cream and a video at 3am? no problem. a palm 7 delivered in 45 minutes? we'll be there. i like to think that i personally put them out of business by using their services so much, since they lost money on every transaction.
Fresh Direct has, in fact, changed my life. Since I started ordering, I actually have food around the house, I've found about two hours extra time in my week, and I've somehow saved money on groceries. All that and I can do my food shopping my pajamas--further proof that Gotham is still the greatest city in the world. Now if someone would only bring back the Kozmo 1am video and Ben & Jerry's binge, my life would be complete.
Fresh Direct will not deliver to my building, regardless of the fact that I literally live four blocks from their warehouse in Long Island City. Yet, they WILL deliver to the luxury high-rise developement, a few blocks further away on the waterfront! Fresh Direct sucks.
Some inside info (i work for them) - FreshDirect will be opening a pickup service in LIC in about two weeks. Delivery to LIC may follow later this summer. Sorry for the aggravation of being on your doorstep but not delivering to you.
I'm an enthusiastic new freshdirect customer. Does anyone know if freshdirect is planning to expand beyond the metro area, i.e. to other cities? Or does this only work because the metro area is so concentrated??
Why doesnt someone do their homework on this company and find out the deal deal about what is going on over there?
Direct from the farm? really? so why are their trucks at the Hunts Point marketplace picking up produce from distributors? why do they get their fish from a fish distributor in freeport LI?
check out how fresh ya stuff really is.
check out www.fuckedcompany.com to read the real story about these fellas.
Fresh Direct posts ads all over the #1 and C lines promoting their free delivery service. They send mass e-mails remindiing people to order. But don't try to take them up on it if you live in most of the uptown areas that the #1 and C lines serve. If you live in Harlem, the Bronx, or even in the upper west 100s west of Amsterdam Ave., don't bother to order from them. Their trucks don't go there.
A check of addresses Fresh Direct will deliver to revealed that they are happy to deliver to addresses on Riverside Drive in the 120s or 130s, but not to Malcolm X Boulevard. They will deliver to 105th St. west of Amsterdam Ave., but not east, where the demographics obviously don't match their "target market."
Redlining was outlawed for banks years ago--why is Fresh Direct allowed to do it? Don't encourage racism--don't do business with Fresh Direct.
I would caution people about Fresh Direct. I have ordered many items from them until I found that they were placing new stickers over the past dated stickers on their produce. I sent them a photo of the original and the new UPC sticker and they did nothing for me. The item was originally to go to another customer who perhaps, sent it back. In the end I had outdated, "rotten" mushrooms and never even recieved a reply from Fresh Direct.
Moreover, I have seen Fresh Direct Delivery people taking unopened bottles of beer/soda from customer orders, drinking them and placing empty containers back in their orders. Obviously, presuming Fresh Direct, nor the customer, would know and somehow would get reimbursed. I would never have believed it had myself and my husband not witnessed it. Absolutely amazing.
Fresh Direct is a very unbusinesslike company.
I am frustrated by the fact that FD does not deliver uptown and I agree with the post above that there is some racism involved in the choice of delivery zones. When I first inquired, I was told it had to do with "traffic patterns" and when pressed, the company admitted it had to do with market "potential." I am a working mother with very little time to shop, and my life would be *so* much easier if they expanded the delivery zone a few blocks east to include my neighborhood. I called the company, and even sent a petition signed by my neighbors to let the company know that there is significant market demand in Harlem, but I was told that there were no plans to expand uptown. I was however thanked for providing some free market research for them.
Racism? Come on! I get my order every week and I'm quite sure the online check-out form doesn't require me to check a box for my race. Grow-up. Everything you don't like isn't a violation of your civil rights!
people who choose to live in the ghetto expect the same privelages of those who want to pay a nice penny to live in a nicer neighborhood... AMAZING!!!! like FD is really going to deliver to projects and run down housing units, why the hell should they?
Here's the thing... if you expand too much, too fast, you put your business at risk. Look at what happened to other online delivery services.
FD is expanding out into more delivery areas all the time. I hear Harlem is the next rollout zone within the next week or so.
for all of u idiots that continue to use freshdirect, ever realize that your meat ,deli items and milk spoil quicker than if u were to buy it from the grocery store? thats bc it really isnt safe for food to be hanging out in their trucks everyday. all employees at FD know this and i am one of them. realize this and stop being lazy!!!@ go to the store and shop yourself