May 20, 2005
Fresh, But Not Necessarily Direct
I live in Long Island City, headquarters of Fresh Direct. There's a giant screaming neon billboard for Fresh Direct in our neighborhood, as well as those dang posters all over our subway stops. Yet, the crazy thing is, they will not deliver to us (zip code 11101). This makes me insane. How they taunt me with their glistening photos of prepared lamb chops I can never have! Their website reminds me that I can go pick up an order at their warehouse. Yet Long Island City is a very spread-out, strange area. So while we're technically in the same hood, it is an isolated, out-of-the-way place I could not reach without a car. Recently I read in the Times that they're extending their delivery to the Hamptons. Yet they still won't come to me, their loving neighbor who'd gladly pay royally to get back the half of my weekend I spend toting heavy bags of Whole Foods groceries from Manhattan on the N train. What's up with these guys?
Ask Gothamist has also received queries about the lack of Fresh Direct service from residents of other neighborhoods with limited supermarkets, such as Red Hook in Brooklyn. According to the Fresh Direct FAQ on their website, "We deliver to certain neighborhoods in New York. Very soon, we'll be delivering to every address in Manhattan as well as parts of Brooklyn and Queens." There is no explanation as to how neighborhoods in Brooklyn and Queens are selected, so we posed the question to Fresh Direct ourselves by filling out a form on their website. However, we did not receive a response by e-mail or phone (we gave them a few days to get back to us). We suspect it has a lot to do with demand for Fresh Direct and profitability. An article in the Gotham Gazette entitled "Groceries Everywhere, but Not a Delivery to Be Had" from March 28th quotes a Long Island City resident who states "Fresh Direct sets up delivery zones based on local demand."
Ask Gothamist was able to track down a former Fresh Direct employee, who confirmed our theory, and told us (anonymously): "It's all about the money. I don't understand the math of the decision, but around the office, I would hear rumblings that it just wasn't sound on the dollar end." He then told us he knew someone who lived one block from the dividing line between the Astoria delivery zone and the Long Island City non-delivery zone. This person began a letter campaign to Fresh Direct with other tenants in his building, and it worked - they now deliver there. The former Fresh Direct employee advises: "Get organized and ask agressively, with multiple signers."
Got a question? Need advice? E-mail ask(at)gothamist.com.
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If it was "off the record" then why did you print it?
Tom, he did give me permission to quote him here -I guess you're right, "off the record" is probably not the correct term. I will amend the post to simply read "anonymously." Thanks for the tip.
gotcha. And as a loyal user of Fresh Direct, I'll make sure I don't move to a Brooklyn neighborhood that doesn't deliver there. Carrying groceries home is so 2003.
i'm in 11104 (Sunnyside), it took 2 years, but they finally deliver to me to.
Fresh Direct sucks. Brooklyn is full of excellent neighborhood markets - Fish Tales, Sahadi, Jim and Andy's, Park Slope Food Co-Op, Esposito's Pork Store... it goes on and on. why buy needlessly marked up shit that rides around in the back of a truck and probably half of which goes to waste when you buy more than you actually can eat when you can get fresh meat and fish and produce from genuine neighborhood institutions when you need it on the way home each day?
and not having a car in brooklyn is so 2002.
I was really pining for Fresh Direct delivery in my 'hood, but come to think of it, if I have to BEG them to serve me and take my money -- perhaps I should focus on steering my business elsewhere. To someone who wants it.
Yeah, I live in east williamsburg (a haven for nothing) and fresh direct would have made living here much more delightful. As it stands, I have to walk 9 blocks to a grocery store. What's the point of Fresh Direct if not to provide convenience? Is it to compete directly with neighborhoods that actually have grocery stores within a reasonable walking distance?
"Carrying groceries home is so 2003."
"and not having a car in brooklyn is so 2002."
Both these statements make me want to roll my eyes.
Having neighborhood stores in Brooklyn doesn't help the person who wrote in - who clearly states she doesn't have a car and lives in Long Island City.
I guess we'll just have to change our government system to MAKE them deliver everywhere instead of them being able to deliver where they want to.
Please support your local grocer. Seems pretty clear that fresh direct has no concern for their own company's neighborhood let alone the city of New York. Yes, you may have to walk a few blocks, but judging from the trains, most of you west Brooklyn & LIC people could use a good walk every week. Buy a grocery cart if you can't tough it out.
Agreee with 'dirtgirl' except for the bizarre car statement. Fresh Direct is not that great. They are operating on margins that require them to pick and choose their neighborhoods the way they do. Not an excuse, but an economic fact. There's no better example of you simply being a 'profit point' rather than a true customer.
LIC might be abandoned by 'Fresh Direct', but Park Slope and other neighborhoods permeated by the 'Fresh Direct' folk also have great local stores. How long does it actually take to shop for most people? How heavy and 'annoying' are carrying bags?
I can understand the convenience of home delivery to an extent, but at the same time most any local supermarket delivers as well.
I find 'Fresh Direct' and the cult of people who allow warehouse workers to select their produce a tad baffling.
I am pretty disgusted with Fresh Direct who refuses to deliver to my area of Brooklyn in spite of many requests. They keep telling us that they will be delivering in our area soon but they have been saying this for more than two years. I am so angry that I will never use them even if I am in their area.
I pretty much only walk to my local grocery store, but have done Fresh Direct a couple times. I have to admit, whether or not "warehouse workers select the produce," it is about a hundred times better than the produce at my local BK grocery store. I mean, give credit where credit is due, their food is fresh and good. They don't deliver to certain neighborhoods, they waste a ton of material packing the groceries, etc. But, the produce looks good when you unpack it.
I live in Bed Stuy. No Fresh Direct. But some enterprising woman named Marsha has put up fliers around the neighborhood offering to deliver fresh direct to you in Bed Stuy for a small free.
The deal is you order from Fresh Direct, specify the LI City pickup and put a note on it that Marsha is picking it up. Then you schedule a time for her to deliver it to you.
So stop your bitchin' all you hipsters and get enterprising like she is !
As a former resident of 11101, I must point out that many of the grocery stores there are abominable. At least in my old neck of the woods. The closest one sold only spoiled meat and more-than-wilted vegetables. I could not get to the Fresh Direct warehouse without a car. I would have gladly paid a bit more for fresh groceries.
I live in Brooklyn, and we use Fresh Direct all the time. No complaints. Great service. Swear by it. The food is good, meats & fish are dead fresh, produce is excellent, and the nonperishables are fine, as one might expect. Still use the butcher up the block and the Dags for stuff when necessary, but when the alternative is the ratty Gristedes that always smells bad and has obnoxious and dopey people on the checkout, the choice is pretty obvious.
As far as their not coming to certain neighborhoods, I hate to say it, but that's capitalism. Create a market for them, and believe me, they'll get their asses over there (though I will admit that just in the name of being good neighbors they should find a way to deliver to LIC).
I live in LIC and have to agree that not having Fresh Direct deliver in our area is extremely frustrating, especially with all the signs in the subway that seem to be taunting us. I often make the trip to Whole Foods because the nearby groceries are either over-priced or lack any decent produce. Hopefully as this area continues to grow, Fresh Direct will decide that our dollars are just as good as anyone else's.
First of all, the nearby groceries are overpriced, so you go to Whole Foods? What's that ridiculous place if not overpriced!
When I was driven insane because I was in a non-delivery zone, I called Fresh Direct to plead my case. I was told it was a direct corollary to how many emails they get via the "give us your email address and we'll tell you when we're delivering in your area" web tool.
So my local pals and I got to entering. Put in every email I actually have, then started making up real-sounding emails. We didn't go overboard so as to avoid suspicion, but we entered lots of emails over the course of about two weeks. Slowly. Another two weeks after that, my area got added.
Coincidence? Maybe. But just passing it along.
whole foods is not expensive. their house brand is high quality and probably the cheapest you could find.
they might sell ok food, but fresh direct wastefully overpackages everything and idles double-parked trucks all over our neighborhood.
The last comment was removed because of name-calling. I appreciate all your comments and enjoy reading them, but I will not tolerate anyone insulting the people writing in to Ask Gothamist or other posters of comments. Such comments will be edited and/or removed at my discretion.
Why would someone overpay to spend half a weekend at whole foods? Sounds like the guy is an out of towner anyway. He doesn't even deserve the subpar groceries that fresh direct delivers
I have been extremely disappointed by Fresh Direct. I can forgive their lateness given that I live in midtown Manhattan and parking is difficult. But 1 out of 3 orders contains missing or damaged items. Today I received a box with a container of cottage cheese completely exploded, eggs broken, and milk leaking (the box had obviously been dropped or stacked). IF this had been the first time, fine; however, it's at least the 10th time something similare has happened! Why do I continue to order: after surgery, it's difficult for me to carry heavy items. But now with a local food store delivering, I will switch. Half the time, bottles of water (or detergent - the heavy items I specifially use FD for) are omitted from the order. Sure, they credit you for the damaged or missing goods - but then you're left without the items you ordered and you still have to shop (plus you've paid a delivery fee and tipped the deliver person). Unacceptable and overrated.
Hi there,
I was wondering if you could help me please. Ive just after moving over from Dublin, Ireland, to live with my American boyfriend. He lives on West 48th Street. He's gone away for a few days I want to cook a nice dinner for him when he comes back. The only stores around here are delis. Could you tell me where there is a big supermarket I could go to. I know the Amish market near here but Im looking for something likje Walbaums or King Cullen or whatever the equivelent is??
Many Thanks
Rachel Coffey 631-805-2843
I do not recommend Freshdirect to ANYONE. I gave them a fair try over several months and was disappointed time after time. Between items missing and late deliveries - who needs the headache! Who cares if you'll get credit for the missing item if your guests are arriving in 4 hours and you have to make a trip to the grocery store to buy the items that were omitted from the delivery just so you can serve your guests dinner!!!
I do not recommend Freshdirect to ANYONE. I gave them a fair try over several months and was disappointed time after time. Between items missing and late deliveries - who needs the headache! Who cares if you'll get credit for the missing item if your guests are arriving in 4 hours and you have to make a trip to the grocery store to buy the items that were omitted from the delivery just so you can serve your guests dinner!!!
I do not recommend Freshdirect to ANYONE. I gave them a fair try over several months and was disappointed time after time. Between items missing and late deliveries - who needs the headache! Who cares if you'll get credit for the missing item if your guests are arriving in 4 hours and you have to make a trip to the grocery store to buy the items that were omitted from the delivery just so you can serve your guests dinner!!!
Have you people ever been in Key Food on 7th Avenue in Park Slope? If you have, you would very much understand why we use Fresh Direct. It's the grossest store in NYC! And, not all of us want to be Co-op members - they're snooty and who has time to work when we already work 80 hours a week? The small "boutique" groceries are great if you can afford them. Fresh Direct is the best thing that's happened to us!