As is clear from this
blog, I relish the opportunity to visit our local farmers markets for as many
of my cooking needs as possible. Unless we're out of town for the weekend, I
usually carve out some time either Saturday in Fells Point or Sunday under 83
checking out the goods from around the region. It's both ritual and utility. I
shop for what I need and take a certain pleasure in the process of strolling
the stands, comparing the goods and day dreaming about meal plans for the week
ahead. I'd like to say this market loyalty comes out of some deep-seeded belief in
the local food movement and to reduce the carbon footprint related to
my produce and protein consumption, but that would be a self-congratulatory stretch. I do support
the ideals of #eatlocal, you know, reducing shipping costs and
environmental impact, spreading nutritional literacy, supporting farmers,
artisans, and agrarian communities, and generally believe in the
small-scale agriculture movement, but it's the not the reason I pull
myself out of bed and grab my totes in the morning, just being honest here.
I get up and go because love the
social aspect; running into friends and neighbors, some in various states of
recovery from Friday or Saturday nights, milling about my neighborhood in
search of edible treasures, it's such a comforting ritual and soooo Americana.
From the moment I wake up I look forward to my first (of two) cup of Cafe Latte'da seasonal
coffee to get me going. Freshly fueled I spend my next hour or so
speaking with farmers, artisans and craftspeople, often getting great recipe
ideas for ingredients from the people who grow and make them. As trendy, or
mainstream as the idea of the farmers market may have become, it is still a way
to support local producers and a way to connect with the community in a
personal, physical, and sensory way.
All that said, one
could understand why I have never been one for mail order food services. Blue
apron and the like are out, I take too much pride in planning and executing my
own meals from soup to nuts. There are specialty services that
provide CSA style shares of meat or other niche products, but I do not have the
freezer space for storing the volume they provide, so I haven't had a chance to
try. I did give Relay Foods a try a year or so ago, but found the disconnect
from seeing my purchase, mainly the meat selections, to be off-putting and I
quickly lost interest, deferring to Pahl's Hogs, Hickory Chance
Beef and the like. With daily produce and specialty meats off
the table, and full meal preparation services never in the running, I am
squarely outside the demographic for mail order food products. Until this
week...
Faced with a rather
specific recipe to prepare this week, paired with a shortage of skin-on
pork belly at my usual Whole Foods, I decided to give Relay Foods another
try. Relay explains that they want to "make shopping for quality, healthy, and
sustainable groceries simple and easy...We're here to help you connect to and learn
about the people who grow your food, and to empower local producers by
providing the online resource for
learning about their products and practices." I get it, take the
sustainable, low carbon foot print, farm-to-consumer concept digital. They add
in community enrichment, rewarding their employees and creating a place where consumers
are proud to spend their money. All
of which I can totally get behind, and would even consider paying a premium
for, as long as they execute.
Full disclosure, my
recipe is for Porchetta. Preparation is a slow and deliberate process
involving herbed pork loin wrapped in crispy pork belly roasted to perfection.
I'm cooking for 4 that evening so I need a significant portion, roughly 3
pounds of porn loin to 3 pounds of skin on porn, enough to completely engulf
the loin, skin-side out, end to end. This is important context to this story as
my specific need impacted both my decision to use Relay and the quality of my
experience.
The
Experience
Ordering on relay is easy.
The user interface is pleasing and simple to use with convenient categorical
drop downs and search bars. They even break out categories like
"organic" or 'grass fed' so one can narrow the search. Not useful to
me with my explicit need/intent, but one thing I thought noteworthy, is the addition of recipes ideas that are linked
to searches performed. For example a search for "Ground Lamb"
produces recipes for Mediterranean Pita, Lamb Kofta, and stuffed portobellas in
addition to the actual product offerings, a nice touch. I did not take the time
to evaluate the quality of the recipes, but the relevance and aesthetic appeal
of the photography was very good.
The first issue when
using services like this is availability. Relay can be slightly deceptive,
allowing you to search for anything, returning results for most everything, but
only once you've clicked into the item does it tell you whether something is in
stock. As someone with an immediate need, I would value the ability to easily
filter by "In stock" items in my searches. I can see, however, to the
casual browser, why seeing all product offerings, agnostic to current
availability might be valuable and be good for meal planning, pantry stocking,
and recipe ideas for the future.
This time Relay had what
I needed and in stock (or so I thought, more on this later). I found the pork
belly quickly. Quite conveniently, the first selection, Timbercreek (a
Charlottesville, VA farm) and pasture-raised (animal feelz), was indeed skin on
and came in packages approximately 1.5lbs in weight. Perfect! I thought, i
would just simply buy two. At that point I proceeded to the check out and
discovered that there was a new wrinkle (or at least I think it's new). There
was a $5 Minimum Order handling charge for sub-total under $25. This
immediately reduced the convenience factor that drove me to relay in the first
place. It totally mitigated my ability to find and order the specific item and
amount of product I needed without ancillary considerations. So I made a
choice.
Faced with this
"minimum Order" conundrum, I decided to take this opportunity as
writing fodder a critique the product and service experience as a whole.
I had never previously
used Relay for anything other then protein. I figured that would be a rather
narrow review, so in order to add more value I expanded the product
categories. I needed a fennel bulb (fronds on specifically), a head of
cauliflower, leeks, and dried rosemary (I just ran out). Conveniently I figured
these would offer a good cross sectional way to evaluate quality, price and
over all value. The vegetables have very clear quality measures: freshness,
firmness, cleanliness, and in the case of the leek and fennel, the crispness of
the green parts. The rosemary would be an easy way to evaluate value as the
price for an explicit amount (oz weight) of a packaged product would be easy to
compare across vendors. Faced with this "minimum Order" conundrum, I
decided to take this opportunity as writing fodder a critique the product and
service experience as a whole.
I returned to shopping
and quickly found all the items I was looking for, once again, in stock. Points
earned back for availability there. I found organic leeks for just $2ea (not
bad, but not farmers market cheap), a head of organic cauliflower for $350
(regularly $4, decent deal), a fennel bulb for $3.50 (size varies so much, hard
to tell if this was going to be a good value), and 5oz of organic dried
rosemary from Frontier Natural Products Co. (good brand) for
$4.50. I would have to wait to evaluate the produce items in person to judge
the quality and value, but I immediately recognized the deal I was getting on
the rosemary. Whole Foods is notoriously expensive, so that brand and
quality is not surprisingly price at over $6 for the same size package. What
affirmed my bargain was encountered McCormick and even store brand rosemary a
Safeway, all at higher prices for the same or smaller weight. Early points for
value.
I proceeded to the check
out having slightly begrudgingly made it past the $35 mark. I learned
as I followed the prompts that Relay now offers more comprehensive home
delivery, but at a cost. For me, this doesn't really add any value. The drop
off location is so close to my home, that it is actually better than lugging
grocery bags from from mid workday trips to Whole Foods (I walk to work FYI). I
can see someone who orders with regularity or makes larger purchases benefiting
from this feature. I even learned they do afternoon deliveries, so the
challenge of being home to receive perishables (and stoop stealables) is
somewhat mitigated. All options considered, at Monday at 2pm, I placed my order
for the 5:30pm - 7pm pick-up in my neighborhood the following
evening. I thought I could sit back and relax and my porchetta was
destined for success.
The next day I got the
confirmation email , this once is like the second level confirmation of
availability because clearly with perishables, something could go wrong during
packing etc. To my chagrin, the pork belly that was supposed to be 3lbs, the
perfect amount for my recipe, and $22, had been reduced to just one package at
$6.53, so I took that to mean just over one pound. I was outraged, and clearly
went off to a sympathetic co-worker who understands my culinary neuroses (and
general insanity). I fired off an email in reply explaining the specific need
for my recipe, how that was the sole reason for my return to Relay, my dismay
at expanding my order to meet the minimum, and the reluctant acceptance based
on my ability to review the service for this blog. I explained I appreciate the
price revisions, but essentially all utility was lost and they might have even
ruined my dinner party. If you know me, you'll already be assuming I wasn't
gentle.
I got a replay in
exactly 8 minutes. It was apologetic and Marlee immediately informed me they
had located additional stock and would offer to send it to my home the next
business day, free of charge. We went back and forth about sending to my home
vs to my office based on the need to received and store it properly and Marlee
was more than accommodating. We settled on home delivery based on the afternoon
timing of shipping and I breathed a hesitant sigh of relief.
Tuesday evening arrived
and I made my way to the Patterson Park Public Charter School pick-up location,
just a few blocks from my home. I waited behind just one other customer to
receive my produce and diminutive pork belly. I was home, bag in hand, in less
than 20 minutes door to door. More convenience points!
I pulled the items from
the bag. Rosemary was as expected. The cauliflower was firm and fresh but
was Calorganics brand, and packaged in plastic, which is fine,
but doesn't really align with the local, “know your producer”, low carbon
footprint ideal which Relay espouses and to which I try to aspire. The leek,
however, was bright green at the ends, and thick, a good specimen, still just a
decent value at $2. The fennel was a medium bulb, clean and firm. The best part
was there was significant frond structure (critical to my recipe) and they were
crisp and fragrant, high quality. The small pork belly was from the stated
producer, thick, and with a clean golden skin, a nice piece albeit smaller than
I had wanted. All in all the quality was very high, cost related value
equivalent to the farmers market or slightly worse (aside from the rosemary
which was exemplary), but I was yet to truly realize the convenience factor as
2.5lbs of pork belly were still outstanding.
Throughout the day Wednesday, I received notifications that my package was out
for delivery as well as offers to track it, I declined as I had faith in
Marlee's ETA. Turns out the final arrival time was somewhere around 7, so Mark
was home and able to receive. I did not get home until after 8, so there was no
impact to my meal prep plans for the evening.
All in all the
experience was not bad, but I am reluctant to say it was great, so I will settle for a soft, low-grade good. In typical finance professional form I expected an STP experience! I wantedhands-free, not
having to complain and deal with working out the availability issue, but that's
life I guess. The quality of product both produce and packaged was high (the
only points off was for the packaged cauliflower) and the value was comparable
to what I think are quite economical prices at farmers markets, so in that
sense high value made even better by the bargain I got on the rosemary. Ultimately I do have to award points for Marlee and her quick and comprehensive customer service and issue resolution, just wish it never had to happen. All that
said, I think Relay, and mail order groceries in general, are better suited for
the casual browser or someone who has need of readily available staples. Relay
is a great site for browsing, seeking inspiration and stocking up, due in large
part to the excellent protein selections. It is not ideal for someone like me
with a very specific and time sensitive need, all convenience is lost with one
availability hiccup.
Relay is admittedly just
one option in this ever expanding field, and this is simply a review of my
experience within specific use case restrictions. There are great CSA options
with farmers or coops, lots of pre-portioned services (Blue Apron and the like) for those with less
time and interest in the creative process, and some intriguing specialty
providers like Butcher Box or Hatchery that offer more focused products
like grass fed beef or new or unique artisanal ingredients. I plan on exploring
some of the specialty services, but for specific recipes and general shopping
pleasure, I am going to stick with my beloved Baltimore farmers markets.
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