Jun 18, 2008
Taking a fresh approach to Fresh Cabbage
Posted by : tootoo
Fresh Cabbage "service is unbeatable, and I feel so lucky to have such aresource." Aydin, a Poly High graduate who studied nutrition at UC Berkeleybefore going to a culinary school, provides personally designedrecipes with how to use the ingredients in each week's crate, whichcontains produce picked at the height of the season. Typical summertime offerings include canteloupe, corn, cucumbers,eggplant, nectarines, peaches, peppers, plums, summer squash,tomatoes and watermelon. A belief system guides Aydin's business. She favors organic produceand community-supported agriculture, or CSA, a movement thatsupports locally grown foods and helps reduce pollution sincetrucks - or container ships - do not have to travel as far todeliver produce. Beachgreen's mission statement promises a "commitment tosustainability." Though shipping between hemispheres makes it possible to enjoy mostfruits and vegetables year-round, appetites for seasonal andlocally grown foods are growing nationwide. "When so many of us are trying to eat locally, eat organically, itis great to have a business like beachgreens," says customer DonnaHilbert, who lives on the Peninsula. "I love the variety, thefreshness, the friendly service. I am a better cook for having beenexposed to vegetables that I passed over in the store because Iwasn't sure what to do with them." Some examples: Bok choy, a Chinese cabbage, and fresh beets, whichtaste much better than the canned varieties she knew before. Beachgreens deliveries are made in a Toyota pickup from 9 a.m. to 5p.m. Thursdays and Fridays. The "Studio Box" costs $28, and is enough food for one adult wholikes to cook at home most of the time. The "Original Box" costs$35, and is enough food for two adults. There is a catch, or benefit, depending on the desire for newexperiences: No custom orders. "It's a 'surprise me,' but you can tell me what don't like orallergies you may have," Aydin says. "You have to be adventurousenough to want to do it." Customer Se Reed, who co-owns the Open bookstore in the EastVillage, enjoys that element of surprise. "It's fun to open the crate and say, 'What are we getting thisweek?"' she says. "It's a vegetable Christmas every week." Aydin's background is in culinary arts. She has worked as a chefand for a business that delivered produce while she was living inSeattle for a stretch. When she moved back to Long Beach about a year and half ago, sheasked, "What am I going to do with myself?" Starting a company like the one in Seattle seemed plausible. "I think I just sent an e-mail to everyone I knew and I had my fivebest friends go, 'Cool,"' she says. Beachgreens' seeds were planted on the Internet, which producedcrops of customers. Friends e-mailed friends. Online reviews sprouted. The local mommy board, longbeachlittleones, spread the word to ageneration of parents who want their children to not only eat theirveggies, but to eat organic. One loyal customer, Stacy Alexeief, suggested a look a the onlinereview she wrote for Yelp.com , which rates businesses and services. "Everything is super-fresh, and clearly was obtained from thesource farms - no wear and tear like you might see at a big-chaingrocery store," she wrote. Though launching the home-based business ate up her time, Aydin,who has one part-time employee, limits her work weeks to 40 hours. "It runs itself enough now that I can walk away from it onweekends," she says. Considering herself somewhat of an unlikely entrepreneur, Aydinwould like to grow the business, "but not at the expense of qualityor personal touch."
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