Behind the Scenes at Boston Organics

Source:  http://www.bostonorganics.com/   

I just resucribed to Boston Organics after a recent behind-the-scenes visit to their headquarters in Charlestown, MA. I toured the plant with my Operations Management Team from one of my MBA classes (picture below). It was really cool to see how this small business dedicated to the mission of delivering fresh, organic produce, has managed to grow into a profitable staple in our community. Check out some of the highlights from my trip:

Boston Organics gets deliveries of fresh produce in the early morning hours, packs boxes Mon - Fri mornings, and delivers to residential and commercial customers Mon - Fri afternoons. The employees who pack the boxes are the drivers who deliver them. They'll deliver them to your front porch, back porch, or directly into your home.

The boxes getting packed full of fruit and veggies. Fun music played in the chilly room while the staff selected produce.

I have been a Boston Organics customer in the past, opting for the local "Dogma Box" a few winters in a row, but despite the great service, I cancelled a while ago when I built weekly trips to Somerville's amazing Farmers Markets into my routine. I missed the convenience of getting all organic produce delivered. As much as I love the farmers markets and supporting local farmers, I know they're not all organic and I've become a little more obsessed with organic lately.

Each customer's box is packed according to individual specifications printed on labels taped to the box.

I recently got a juicer and since I'm not the best at eating fruit on a daily basis, I decided to resubscribe after the tour. My first delivery came last Friday. I subscribed to the 1/2 fruit 1/2 veggie box and got oranges, onions, lettuce, pears, apples, carrots, bananas, sweet potatoes, kiwis, basil, and a few other items delivered to my doorstep for $29. I added on extra carrots and some ginger for juicing.

That's a lot of bananas! 

We learned about the challenges of importing bananas, including the various conditions they arrive in and the optimal ripeness for delivery. It's not easy to meet customer expectations on this front, so Boston Organics has really figured out the science of banana storage. They have various refrigerators at different temperatures to maintain optimal conditions for the produce. 

Customers can add cheese on to their orders.

In addition to produce, Boston Organics offers popular grocery "add-ons," including cheese, chocolate, coffee, nuts, grains, and beans. 

Boston Organics maintains strong relationships with local and national distributors to maintain optimum inventory.

After our tour, they gave us doggy bags! We each got an apple, a banana, and an orange. They were such great hosts!

From L to R: Kara, Dennis, Steve, Emilio (Boston Organics' Operations Manager), me, and Kevin. Matt's not pictured.

If you live in the greater Boston area and love organic fruits and veggies, you should check out Boston Organics. Their prices are very reasonable and they offer a lot of options and much more customization than a comparable CSA. Visit http://www.bostonorganics.com/ for all the details! If you're not in the Boston area, try to find out if your area has a similar service. There are similar services all over the country! 

PS: I'll add pictures of future deliveries so you can see what I'm getting in my boxes, but you can always see what's in "this week's box" at http://www.bostonorganics.com/fresh/thisweekbox.php

PPS: I received no incentive to write this post. All of the opinions are strictly my own.