Access to to-the-trade purveyors during quarantine

[scott123]

6 minutes ago, weinoo said:

@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, through a pizza lens, which, as you know, I view just about everything, I live in what I call the '6th borough.'  Outside of that, I'm a Jersey kid.  Bruuuuuuuuuce!  Bruuuuuuuuuce!

 

But, thanks for pointing that out, though. It looks like a super fun outfit.

[weinoo]

1 minute ago, scott123 said:

 

Mitch, through a pizza lens, which, as you know, I view just about everything, I live in what I call the '6th borough.'  Outside of that, I'm a Jersey kid.  Bruuuuuuuuuce!  Bruuuuuuuuuce!

 

But, thanks for pointing that out, though. It looks like a super fun outfit.

 

Ahhhhh, I shudda known...

 

 

 

[BeeZee]

By chance I saw an article about a supplier in our area, North East Restaurant Direct, which is delivering for free in the immediate area (Mercer County, @JoNorvelleWalker) with a $25 minimum, which is reasonable for our two person household. They have a decent selection of very basic produce, sell in smaller quantities, and the prices are very fair. Looks like they deliver the day after you order. I may give them a shot next week since the stuff at the supermarket hasn't been great.

[weinoo]

20 minutes ago, BeeZee said:

By chance I saw an article about a supplier in our area, North East Restaurant Direct, which is delivering for free in the immediate area (Mercer County, @JoNorvelleWalker) with a $25 minimum, which is reasonable for our two person household. They have a decent selection of very basic produce, sell in smaller quantities, and the prices are very fair. Looks like they deliver the day after you order. I may give them a shot next week since the stuff at the supermarket hasn't been great.

What have you got to lose?!

[JeanneCake]

On 4/28/2020 at 3:05 PM, 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.

 

 

The Restaurant Depot nearest to me in MA (I don't go to the others so can't speak to whether this is a universal policy in our state or not for RD) opened to the public after a few weeks.  I can't say I'm a fan of this idea.  It was bad enough trying to navigate in there with cranky restaurant owners who thought they were the only ones who needed something and would bang the Uboats into you while shopping, or your vehicle outside; or leave them in the  middle of a parking space because they're too lazy to move them remotely close to where someone else could use it.....they dump stuff out of the boxes and leave the empty boxes in the parking lot for the staff to clean up 🤬

 

anyway I digress.

 

I only go at the end of the day, when it is less likely to be crowded and I take my chances on whether they'll have what I want.  On Thursday I broke my own rule and went just after lunch.  No beef, no chicken, little to no produce, lots of cheese, frozen stuff was ok, no seltzer, no yeast, fully stocked on flour and canned tomato products, fully stocked on pasta and bread; and they have a new brand of shell eggs and LOTS of big signs saying not to open the boxes.  They say they only allow 2 shoppers per card, no exceptions but on multiple occasions while trying to get product off shelves, I was bumped into by other shoppers traveling in groups of 3.  It was annoying to say the least.

 

After shopping there, I now understand why cooks say bad things about owners.  Sorry to hijack the thread a bit! But getting back on track, you should call the one nearest to you and see if they are allowing one day passes.  The one I shop at does, and has a sign right at the registration desk saying so.

 

Oh, and you need a mask and you should wear gloves (even if you don't normally.  People are slobs.)

[JeanneCake]

On 4/28/2020 at 7:09 PM, pastrygirl said:

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.

 

Social media!  I bought a case of SAF instant last week to send to friends around the country and then sold some to people in town who were posting that they couldn't find any.

 

Yeast and flour is the new toilet paper

 

[JoNorvelleWalker]

1 hour ago, JeanneCake said:

 

Social media!  I bought a case of SAF instant last week to send to friends around the country and then sold some to people in town who were posting that they couldn't find any.

 

Yeast and flour is the new toilet paper

 

 

I can't help but think the King Arthur catalog would work much better.

 

[weinoo]

 

I got a nice delivery yesterday (Fellow Farmer). Hard to see, but 2 heads of lettuce, clamshell of fancy greens, tons of fancy kale, spinach I sautéed for dinner last night, rainbow Swiss chard, giant spring alliums, lots of lovely small potatoes, 1 dreaded rutabaga (but no turnips, yay!), 5 big apples, storage radishes and fresh breakfast radishes, couple pounds of carrots. Easily a week's worth for $50. 

[dscheidt]

21 hours ago, JeanneCake said:

 

 

The Restaurant Depot nearest to me in MA (I don't go to the others so can't speak to whether this is a universal policy in our state or not for RD) opened to the public after a few weeks.  I can't say I'm a fan of this idea.  It was bad enough trying to navigate in there with cranky restaurant owners who thought they were the only ones who needed something and would bang the Uboats into you while shopping, or your vehicle outside; or leave them in the  middle of a parking space because they're too lazy to move them remotely close to where someone else could use it.....they dump stuff out of the boxes and leave the empty boxes in the parking lot for the staff to clean up 🤬

 

anyway I digress.

 

I only go at the end of the day, when it is less likely to be crowded and I take my chances on whether they'll have what I want.  On Thursday I broke my own rule and went just after lunch.  No beef, no chicken, little to no produce, lots of cheese, frozen stuff was ok, no seltzer, no yeast, fully stocked on flour and canned tomato products, fully stocked on pasta and bread; and they have a new brand of shell eggs and LOTS of big signs saying not to open the boxes.  They say they only allow 2 shoppers per card, no exceptions but on multiple occasions while trying to get product off shelves, I was bumped into by other shoppers traveling in groups of 3.  It was annoying to say the least.

 

 

I went this morning.  No signs about a change in policy on who gets to shop, but I didn't ask.  Reasonable selection of frozen stuff, full stock of baking stuff, except no dry yeast (fresh in the cooler), canned tomatoes in stock, pasta in stock.  Plenty of cheese, dairy, eggs.  NO pork at all.  had beef (but I think limited varieties) and chicken.  Produce looked like it always does (poor, with random stuff out of stock).  

[BeeZee]

On 5/1/2020 at 4:43 PM, weinoo said:

What have you got to lose?!

Placed an order with NE Restaurant Direct, ordered fruit/veg/fresh basil. When I went back in the web site this afternoon they  had added stock of 10 lb packs of partially trimmed chicken breasts for $24.90, which is a pretty good deal. But I can't deal with that much chicken myself. Will report on the produce order tomorrow.

[BeeZee]

Picture of my delivery...ordered 5/6, delivered 5/9, total was $27. They dropped the carton on my front porch, good thing I was sitting in the living room area and saw the truck. Most items were 1 lb. except for a couple of things sold per piece. Eggplant, sweet/vidalia onions, golden beets, fresh basil, green squash, yellow squash, plum tomatoes, pint of grape tomatoes, strawberries, mango, fennel bulb, bag of baby carrots, 4 red bell peppers, 3 pack romaine hearts, 2 bags spinach (I ordered 1, but I guess since the bags are 10oz they packed 2). Some things much better quality/value than supermarket (so much basil!), others on par, the only stinkers were the baby carrots which were old (will cook them tonite) and the mango is hard as a rock and likely will never ripen. All in all, I am happy.

 

[weinoo]

Unripe mango salad?

 

But when you look at your purchase as a whole, that's much better value and quality than supermarket stuff.