May 11, 2016
There has been plenty of negative attention heaped on digital delivery companies that have skipped over Dorchester, Mattapan and Roxbury. After media scrutiny— and a high-profile push from Mayor Martin Walsh — Amazon says it will begin servicing parts of Dorchester and Roxbury with Prime, their popular on-demand delivery service.
But there are delivery companies that don’t need to be shamed into serving our communities. One of them is Boston Organics, which has made it a point to deliver to all Boston neighborhoods from the get-go.
Boston Organics is a fresh produce delivery subscription service. Customers can sign up to receive boxes of produce at their homes or their offices, with the option of adding on other grocery items such as pasta, bread, and chocolate. The price of each box ranges from $27 to $60.
Jeff Barry, who founded the Charlestown-based company in 2002, told the Reporter that he wanted to “combine business and environmentalism by starting a business that helps promote healthy eating and sustainable farming.”
In 2013, Boston Organics became a Certified B Corporation, which made the company legally required to consider the impact of its business on worker, suppliers, the community, consumers, and the environment.
When customers place an order online, they can see where each item is coming from. Although Boston Organics works closely with many local farmers, it still has to bring in produce from outside New England. Since the company began, sustainable farming has grown substantially in the Northeast, Barry said.
The independently owned business is able to provide fresh produce year round by working directly with organic farmers and wholesalers. It donates unsold produce to Food For Free, which reduces food waste while guaranteeing access to fresh produce for emergency food programs.
According to Barry, Boston Organics has a network of about 3,000 customers and makes 2,000 deliveries a week, including to some 200 customers in Dorchester. “Dorchester has been awesome,” Barry said.
The company is now looking to deliver more fruit boxes to office-break rooms, especially in growing business areas such as Fields Corner. “We haven’t had enough success in Mattapan as we would like,” he added.
Barry said that delivering to all of Boston, and not exclusively to certain neighborhood is part of Boston Organic’s mission. “It’s who we are,” he said.