Rich A.
Yelp
In the early, chaotic days of the COVID-19 pandemic, we experienced tremendous anxiety about the food supply chain. Prior to the pandemic, we shopped in-person at several local supermarkets -- Wegmans, Whole Foods, ShopRite, etc. -- but the uncertainty we all experienced during the late Winter and Spring about transmission of the virus by touch or airborne particles until science caught up with the virus encouraged us to try grocery home delivery services. We initially used Wegmans (powered by Instacart) and Whole Foods services and had vaguely disappointing experiences with both services -- items we ordered on-line were often out-of-stock or replaced with substitute items by our shopper without notice when our order was fulfilled and the freshness and quality of the produce selected by our shopper wasn't up to our standards. Any complaints to the services when they failed to live up to our expectations went unanswered or were dismissed by the customer service reps without any empathy or consideration. A friend of mine recommended Baldor, which has long supplied restaurants in the New York Metropolitan area and had recently started offering home delivery to offset some of their business lost when restaurants cut back on their orders. Back in those early days of the pandemic, Baldor initially required a $250 minimum order for delivery, primarily offered a limited selection of staple products in bulk warehouse club sizes that catered to their commercial customers, and had a website that seemed to be designed by Geocities. On the other hand, they offered fresh, high-quality, locally-sourced produce, meat, poultry, fish, and other products delivered right to my door via refrigerated truck and offered excellent customer service -- acknowledging any mistakes with a quick credit to our purchase. As 2020 wore on, Baldor upgraded their website to make shopping easier and giving more information about the source of the items they offer, expanded the range of products they offer, began to stock smaller sizes better suited for a family than your local pizzeria, and decreased the minimum order to $200. We're big fans of the locally-sourced products distributed by Baldor -- particularly the Pierless seafood (try the Poke Perfection Bowl!) and Partner's coffee beans. We have gotten into a comfortable routine of placing a delivery order from Baldor once every three or four weeks to stock the refrigerator / freezer and picking up more perishable items once every week or so.. and expect this may be one pandemic-inspired behavior that sticks around long after the pandemic has passed.