Introduction
Fresh Direct describes itself as the “new way to shop for food” on it’s about us page. As I watched more and more of the trucks make the rounds throughout New York since 2002 I thought to myself that this sounds like a pretty cool service. As a southerner who moved to New York in 1998, I used to buy in bulk and cook every meal upon arrival. At that time I was a 23-year-old grad student who would quickly realize: 1. with no family there was no need to buy in bulk and 2. my studies would win my time not cooking. I would soon eat out every single meal. When I did shop for groceries, it was in bulk for summer barbeques at specialty stores. I used specific Canal Street fishmongers for seafood. This experience in becoming a “time poor” New Yorker taught me how to survive on the services and specialty stores available. On October 10, 2008 I decided to try Fresh Direct and I’ve been a customer ever since. "After fresh and direct, the retailer's third most important consideration is convenience, critical in a market where restaurant competition is as significant as supermarket."1 At its most basic level, the company offers customers the convience of on demand fresh food for less than (or the same as) the supermarket. My first hand observations with how the company fulfills their promise are where I will start this exploration. I attempted to gain insight into the back-room activities and systems that make their offering possible through ordering, complaining, returning and rescheduling deliveries. For a period of several weeks I observed these operational aspects of Fresh Direct with the aim of understanding how these proved or disproved the CVP. Specifically my findings on the company’s product availability, quality, online ordering / website and level of reliability when delivering all exposed how they serve their customers.