fresh-range local food delivery: Review

With food fraud cases such as the horsemeat scandal still fresh in our minds, more and more of us are paying more attention to the provenance of our food, wanting to make sure that we are actually buying what we think we’re buying. Here in Bristol, we’re surrounded by some fantastic local food producers – but how many people actually shop locally on a regular basis?

At the weekend markets, it’s easy to find food and drink from local producers, but for many, this may not be a convenient way of shopping. In addition, there’s still the belief that buying fresh, locally produced foods is far more expensive than the supermarket alternative. fresh-range, however, are not only making local food shopping convenient, but are demonstrating that it is affordable while still paying a fair price to the producers.

fresh-range.com is an online store that brings together a wide range of local farmers, fishermen, makers and bakers from the Bristol and Bath areas, giving them the opportunity to sell their products for local delivery to Bristol and Bath residents. In the online store, you’ll find meat from The Story, fruit and vegetables from Leigh Court Farm, bread from Hobbs House Bakery, leaves from The Severn Project, milk from Midway Farm Dairy and more.

“It’s all about transparency,” says fresh-range founder Rich Osborn. “fresh-range makes it easy to browse foods from a wide range of producers, and gives you confidence that the producers are earning the majority of the retail price. Such a direct supply-chain means you can receive fresher foods at lower prices”.

I decided to place an order for delivery last week, and was pretty impressed with fresh-range’s online shop. Products are grouped in easy-to-navigate categories and subcategories, with weights, clear pricing, good product descriptions, photographs and even serving suggestions for some of the meat and fish options. The search functionality works well, and it’s easy to see the value of your shopping basket with every new item that you add.

What’s more, many of the products include price comparisons with major supermarkets, demonstrating how buying locally can sometimes be far cheaper than mainstream shopping. The small topside beef joint from Gilcombe Farm that is available on the website, for example, was, at the time of writing, priced at £7.30 – 24% cheaper than a similar (not local) product from Asda.

In February 2015, there were no fewer than 97 different producers listed on the site, with many products sourced directly from the producer, and others through wholesalers. Unlike many local delis, you’ll find the staples at fresh-range too: products such as eggs, milk, butter, bread, flour and sugar can all be purchased online.

Many of the products listed on the website can even be delivered within hours of them being received from the producers: by cutting out the middle man and being able to deliver pretty much immediately, it’s clear to see how fresh-range can keep costs down and ensure that products are fresh.

My online order came to £35.02 in total – not too bad at all considering how much I bought…

1 Russet Apple Juice (750ml) £1.49
1 Boneless Beef Shin Slice (500g) £3.60
1 Lean Beef Mince (500g) £3.90
1 Holy Smoked Cheese (155g) £3.00
1 Fig & Walnut Loaf (400g) £2.50
1 Large White Thick Sliced Loaf (800g) £1.60
1 Button Mushrooms (250g) £1.22
2 Limes £0.96
1 Desiree Potatoes (1kg) £1.00
1 Organic Free Range Eggs – Mixed (x6) £2.15
1 Organic Semi-Skimmed Milk (1 litre) £1.35
2 Baking Potato £0.58
1 Bananas (1kg) £1.77
1 Carrots (800g) £0.55
1 Celery £1.08
1 Clementines (1kg) £2.31
1 Cucumber £0.77
1 Small Onions (1kg) £0.54
1 Tea Cakes (x4) £1.60
1 Cheddar with Whisky (165g) £2.75

Online checkout was easy and secure, and living in BS1, I had the choice of a Tuesday or Friday delivery at a cost of just £1. Deliveries are made between 8am and 10pm – even if you’re out – with the checkout process letting you know where deliveries should be left if you are not in.

My delivery driver got slightly lost, but was polite and cheerful when he phoned for directions. It was great to see my order turning up in a fully branded van, and he kindly brought both of my boxes upstairs to our flat, and even offered to carry them through to the kitchen. I was impressed with the service – and also the cost, with delivery costing just £1 in February 2015: far cheaper than the major supermarkets.

He also explained that fresh-range reuse the boxes and packaging (they use wool packaging to keep items fresh and cold for a very long time, so it doesn’t matter if you’ve ordered fresh meat and you’re not home when the delivery arrives). I was asked to leave the cardboard boxes and packaging outside when I next order, in order that they can reuse them for future deliveries, in much the same way as many of the national vegetable box schemes.

My shopping had been packed sensibly, with the chilled items wrapped in wool packaging with an ice pack to keep them cool. I was also given a printed receipt so that I could check that everything had arrived (it had).

My one niggle was that the Gilcombe Farm meat that I ordered arrived with no labels – which could not only make it hard for some to identify what is in the packaging, but is a little concerning in terms of a lack of use by date. However, I’ve spoken to fresh-range about this, and have been told that they are aware of the issue and have let Gilcombe Farm know. Knowing that it came straight from the producer, though, I had no qualms about using the beef shin a few days after delivery, and the beef mince is currently sitting in my freezer, waiting to be used…

Everything else was perfectly fresh, and with decent use by/best before dates. The difference in flavour between my fresh-range order and supermarket products is also vast – there’s no comparison.

While the business is still in its infancy with very little marketing having been done, fresh-range have already built up a loyal customer base who want great quality, local food and drink with affordable delivery costs and at a good price – and with producers receiving a fair price for their goods too. Give it a go for yourselves – and you’ll be wondering why you ever thought buying locally was so expensive…