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Access to to-the-trade purveyors during quarantine


cdh

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So with most restaurants operating in a totally different mode (if at all) and many more people at home cooking, to-the-trade purveyors seem to be opening their doors to the public.  I'd like this thread to explore our experiences with this new option being presented to us. 

 

A week or two ago my local metro's paper published an article about food distributors opening their inventories to the public... none of the options looked all that enticing, ranging from inflexible boxes of stuff that didn't trigger my Want! reflexes, to $200 minimum orders, to curbside pickup at warehouses an hour away.  More recently, one of the big South Philly fish warehouses publicized that they were getting into the to-the-public side more seriously than they had. That sounded interesting.  So, having been a subscriber to their email blasts (so I'd know when to start looking for seasonal stuff), I've dropped the $50 to join their "club" which theoretically entitles me to their to-the-trade special prices, and to delivery to my house (which will be a real winner since I live just outside the Instacart zone, where they'll say they will deliver to my ZIP code, just not to my house).  I see it like a sort of Costco for fish (but with delivery)sort of proposition.  I'll report back with updates on my experience. 

 

Share any adventures like this that you've got... if you've got any.

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Christopher D. Holst aka "cdh"

Learn to brew beer with my eGCI course

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Not really a food distributor (although I'm interested to know about more), but I have been getting produce boxes and eggs from a farm that usually sells at our farmer's market in town. Instead you pre-order & pay online and they do drop into your trunk at our church parking lot. A lot of nontraditional places are also starting to sell produce and other supplies, such as the fruit bowl place on the corner. Heck, one of the church supply places I order from (I head the altar guild), is selling commercial cleaning supplies including gloves and masks. I bought commercial pack toilet paper as well, but that was regular ol' Amazon.

Joanna G. Hurley

"Civilization means food and literature all round." -Aldous Huxley

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Same here. My farmers I buy meat and eggs from have, for the past several years, come to the Farmers Market location two weekends a month during the off season. Handy as heck since I live a half-mile from the market, which is delaying opening. Now one of the regular growers at the market, who has strawberries, blackberries and other produce, has opened up a order-online option. They will do drop-off at two points in my small city. If the market doesn't open in May or June, I'll likely be buying from them.

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I keep checking Restaurant Depot's web site to see if they might open to the public.  So far, no.

 

I would think, though, that this would be an ideal time for talking your way in. "I'm opening a catering business and haven't gotten my paperwork together." You generally can't talk your way in more than a couple times, but, a single visit could net you a 50 lb bag of flour or two- which should be long enough to get you through this shutdown (depending, of course, where you live).  All of the baking supplies that have just about vanished at the retail level- last I checked RD was stocked.

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D'artagnan has a thriving mail order business. But not cheap.

 

We have instacart, but it hasn't gotten a single order correct and one appeared to be intentionally wrong.

 

 

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18 minutes ago, gfweb said:

D'artagnan has a thriving mail order business. But not cheap.

 

We have instacart, but it hasn't gotten a single order correct and one appeared to be intentionally wrong.

 

 

 

Intentionally wrong?

 

Cooking is cool.  And kitchen gear is even cooler.  -- Chad Ward

Whatever you crave, there's a dumpling for you. -- Hsiao-Ching Chou

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1 hour ago, JoNorvelleWalker said:

 

Intentionally wrong?

 

 

I was IMd requests for approving substitutions.I nixed two and was given some bad choices even after refusing them. Like half and half instead of heavy cream. And she subbed crescent rolls for biscuits after I approved a different brand of biscuit.  And white potatoes instead of yukon gold.

 

Not a criminal act, but annoying.

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Ah, gfweb, that sounds less like malice and more like someone who just doesn't know from food.

 

There's a restaurant supplier in my neighborhood that's selling direct-to-public. Several weeks back, when store shelves were barren of flour, I picked up a 50lb bag of all-purpose flour (OK, and a 5kg bag of tipo 00, 1lb of yeast, 5lbs of cranberry beans and puy lentils, and several pounds of frozen ravioli). Decanted the flour in a 5 gallon food-grade bucket and drove around to friends' houses for them to fill their flour canisters with. Might be about time for me to make another circuit. 

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I noticed on my one Instcart order (from Wegman's) the substitutions were stupid.

 

New York City luckily has a thriving trade-purveyor business right now.  From cheese, to fish mongers, to farmer's market, to fine produce/pantry providers; nothing wrong with getting a fresh picked bunch of ramps, baby leeks, spring onions, baby turnips, in an order.

 

D'artagnan has always delivered, and seem to be doing a good job of keeping up. It's the smaller operators who were really overwhelmed, as they are probably like 2-3 person operations.

 

Union Square Hospitality published a list of purveyors they deal with, whose businesses have morphed into home delivery or pick up.

Edited by weinoo (log)
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Mitch Weinstein aka "weinoo"

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31 minutes ago, gfweb said:

 

I was IMd requests for approving substitutions.I nixed two and was given some bad choices even after refusing them. Like half and half instead of heavy cream. And she subbed crescent rolls for biscuits after I approved a different brand of biscuit.  And white potatoes instead of yukon gold.

 

Not a criminal act, but annoying.

 

As the popular meme says, "Don't attribute to malice what can be adequately explained by stupidity*."  I think of it as the "Occam's Razor" of human interaction.
 

(Insert less pejorative synonym of your choice, here...)

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“Who loves a garden, loves a greenhouse too.” - William Cowper, The Task, Book Three

 

"Not knowing the scope of your own ignorance is part of the human condition...The first rule of the Dunning-Kruger club is you don’t know you’re a member of the Dunning-Kruger club.” - psychologist David Dunning

 

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1 hour ago, gfweb said:

 

I was IMd requests for approving substitutions.I nixed two and was given some bad choices even after refusing them. Like half and half instead of heavy cream. And she subbed crescent rolls for biscuits after I approved a different brand of biscuit.  And white potatoes instead of yukon gold.

 

Not a criminal act, but annoying.

 

Do they give refunds for unsatisfactory items they way amazon does?

 

Cooking is cool.  And kitchen gear is even cooler.  -- Chad Ward

Whatever you crave, there's a dumpling for you. -- Hsiao-Ching Chou

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19 minutes ago, JoNorvelleWalker said:

 

Do they give refunds for unsatisfactory items they way amazon does?

 

They do.

The problem is with the quality of the shopper. Some don't seem to give a shit, some do.

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1 hour ago, chromedome said:

 

As the popular meme says, "Don't attribute to malice what can be adequately explained by stupidity*."  I think of it as the "Occam's Razor" of human interaction.
 

(Insert less pejorative synonym of your choice, here...)

 

I should add she put the order on a porch next to a sign saying to put everything on the nearer porch. So she had to make two trips at least to put it in the wrong place. I assume she could read. But perhaps not. Seemed like a shitty teenager move.

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There's a local fish wholesaler who has opened to the public.

 

My production kitchen is in kind of a food desert so I've been debating getting some bulk things to re-pack and sell to the neighborhood but it's hard to get motivated when there is little foot traffic and probably not a lot of money to be made on dry beans/rice/pasta.

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5 hours ago, scott123 said:

I keep checking Restaurant Depot's web site to see if they might open to the public.  So far, no.

 

I would think, though, that this would be an ideal time for talking your way in. "I'm opening a catering business and haven't gotten my paperwork together." You generally can't talk your way in more than a couple times, but, a single visit could net you a 50 lb bag of flour or two- which should be long enough to get you through this shutdown (depending, of course, where you live).  All of the baking supplies that have just about vanished at the retail level- last I checked RD was stocked.

How strict the RD is at letting people depends very much on the store.  The one I go to in Chicago has a reputation for not letting anyone in.  Other places, they don't care.  Some of it depends on the state, and what the sales tax rules are.  Illinois wants to see the tax id of everyone sold tax exempt stuff, which is part of why they're strict.   They're also very busy, and moron members of the public wandering around cause problems.  (I can spot the people who are clearly not restaurant shoppers, not just because of what they're buying, but because how lost they look and how often they jump in front of a speeding forklift.) 

 


The last time I was there, a couple weeks ago, they had a bunch of weird out of stocks, but the baking stuff was pretty well covered.  I don't think there was dry yeast, but plenty of flour in all the things they carry.  Dairy was well stocked, plenty of eggs (have to buy 15 dozen, of course....).  There were some unit level meats missing, but I think there were cases of everything.  I need to go again in the next couple days, I'll report back. 

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2 hours ago, dscheidt said:

How strict the RD is at letting people depends very much on the store.  The one I go to in Chicago has a reputation for not letting anyone in.  Other places, they don't care.

 

It's just a theory, but, considering how hard these distributors must be getting hit, I'm hoping that some of these stricter stores might be a little more likely to look the other way.

 

But you make an excellent point about the public sticking out like a sore thumb. Which is why anyone attempting to talk their way in should try to act as professional/serious/no nonsense as possible.  "YO, GIVE ME MY DAY PASS BRO!" is probably not going to get you in :)

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8 hours ago, scott123 said:

 

It's just a theory, but, considering how hard these distributors must be getting hit, I'm hoping that some of these stricter stores might be a little more likely to look the other way.

 

But you make an excellent point about the public sticking out like a sore thumb. Which is why anyone attempting to talk their way in should try to act as professional/serious/no nonsense as possible.  "YO, GIVE ME MY DAY PASS BRO!" is probably not going to get you in :)

 

Do you know these guys?  https://www.bakersauthority.com/

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Mitch Weinstein aka "weinoo"

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3 hours ago, weinoo said:

 

Do you know these guys?  https://www.bakersauthority.com/

 

Over the years, I've heard good things about their customer service, but the typical markup has kept me from sending many folks their way.  This being said... Available with a fairly reasonable markup and shipping is far better than completely empty shelves at every turn, so, thanks for bringing this to my attention.

 

Edit: I priced some flour there last year and it's the same price now, so, to their credit, they don't seem to be gouging- and they easily could bump prices up a bit because of increased demand.

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57 minutes ago, scott123 said:

 

Edit: I priced some flour there last year and it's the same price now, so, to their credit, they don't seem to be gouging- and they easily could bump prices up a bit because of increased demand.

 

Yes, their prices for someone like me, a home user and infrequent bread maker/cookie maker (though now I'm a much more frequent one) etc., are on a par with what I might pay ordering directly from King Arthur in 5 or 10 pound quantities.

 

Now if I had somewhere to store a pallet's worth of flour...

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Mitch Weinstein aka "weinoo"

Tasty Travails - My Blog

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Was it you baby...or just a Brilliant Disguise?

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5 minutes ago, weinoo said:

Now if I had somewhere to store a pallet's worth of flour...

 

I know that you're joking, but, for anyone else who's looking at a 50 lb. bag of flour and wondering how to store it, here's how I do it.

 

Most supermarket bakery departments have large covered plastic buckets that they're constantly throwing out. If you ask, they'll normally give you these buckets for free. You can also try other departments, like the deli, although things like pickles might leave a smell. Bakery ingredients (usually glazes and icings) clean off easily with no residual odors. Make sure you get a bucket with a very tight fitting lid, with a seal that is intact.

 

With some jiggling, I can fit one 50 lb. bag of flour into two 4.25 gallon buckets. Flour stored this way will generally last a couple years if kept in a cool place, like a basement.

 

I've also found these types of buckets at hardware stores like Home Depot, Lowes, and Ace, but they tend to run about $10/bucket. 

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22 hours ago, scott123 said:

I keep checking Restaurant Depot's web site to see if they might open to the public.  So far, no.

 

I thought Restaurant Depot opened their stores to the public?

I'm a RD/Jetro member, and I went to my local warehouse *just before* the lockdown began in California. It was so crazy I didn't even bother looking for a parking space...

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23 hours ago, scott123 said:

I keep checking Restaurant Depot's web site to see if they might open to the public.  So far, no.

 

 


I would call them. I know the ones in NJ are open to the public currently. They may just not be updating their website because it's not universal. 

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Joanna G. Hurley

"Civilization means food and literature all round." -Aldous Huxley

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4 minutes ago, Allura said:


I would call them. I know the ones in NJ are open to the public currently. They may just not be updating their website because it's not universal. 

 

I was actually kind of hoping for a laxer admission policy, so some folks could get in, but completely open doors could result in empty shelves.  I guess it's good. Bad for me, but, good for the public who need food.  I can live without burgers for a couple months (pretty much all I get there).

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@scott123  I don't know what neighborhood you're in, but do you know our newest local bakery? They're delivering one day a week, and are having pickup at the store one or two days a week.  Some staples as well.

 

Party Bus Bakeshop

Mitch Weinstein aka "weinoo"

Tasty Travails - My Blog

My eGullet FoodBog - A Tale of Two Boroughs

Was it you baby...or just a Brilliant Disguise?

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