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.
