Fruitful Dreams

Fruit Jesus Is Once Again Bringing Produce to the People in San Francisco | Eater SF

"I met Konstantin Kosov, a long-bearded, free-spirited fruit prophet whom people call Fruit Jesus; he bikes to San Francisco farmers’ markets, loads up as much as a thousand pounds of produce on his trailer, and used to deliver to about 80 downtown offices, keeping teams stocked with mandarins and strawberries and introducing skeptics to pluots and canary melons. When the recent crisis emptied offices he went quiet for six weeks, lost half his clients, ran a “cherry layaway” to help during the June glut, and parked his RV at the base of Potrero Hill, but he’s back now and expanding into home delivery. Customers email their contact info, budget, and requests; the minimum is $25 per week, delivery days are Saturday, Sunday, Monday, and Wednesday, and he keeps a third of the fee while spending the rest on fruit. He refuses to do bananas because they’re not local and won’t wash fruit (which he says can compromise thin-skinned specimens), makes no guarantees about exact box contents, and may add milk, eggs, greens, and locally grown spirulina to offerings. To tackle spread-out residential drop-offs he’s using a van and recruited friends—planning two cars for the hills and two bicycles for the flats—and will deliver anywhere within city limits (he even plans weekly drops for his grandma in the Bayview)." - Becky Duffett