Eater Dallas reported earlier this week that Greenling, an organic produce delivery company out of Austin, is expanding to Dallas in January.
Greenling works directly with local, sustainable farmers and producers, and delivers weekly food bins to residences. There is a $25 minimum for all orders, but the delivery service is free. Set up somewhat like a CSA, customers can choose individual items or get a "local box." Everything is delivered in four-hour "food-saver bins," meaning customers don't have to be home in order to receive their produce.
Founder Mason Arnold worked for an environmental consulting firm after receiving his chemical engineering degree at UT, but quickly grew disenchanted with his role and what he saw. In 2005 Arnold founded Greenling based on the simple premise that "people needed a way to get fresh, nutritious food." Since then he's been committed to delivering farm fresh food in a more environmentally friendly way.
Greenling touts that their trucks use 85 percent less fuel then all their customers driving to the store. Aspen Lewis, marketing director with Greenling, said they've met with North Texas farmers to start their operations here.
"We will use some of the same purveyors that we use for Austin," Lewis said, "because some are close to the Dallas area. But, we've also met with a whole bunch of new North Texas farmers, so we're definitely going use them."
The Greenling delivery area is most of Dallas and Fort Worth.
"It's kind of done individually by zip code because the routes are based on zip codes. And delivery dates are based on those routes," Lewis said. "Right now we plan to cover the majority of DFW. Plus, we track all the zip codes that are entered into our website, so if we get a lot of entrants from a zip code that is not currently open then will definitely try to do it."
As an example of what they offer, they have a photo of their "local box" for the week of December 26 that costs $34.99 and includes: watermelon radish, mustard greens, baby spinach bag, kale, red leaf, Romaine, green leaf or Bibb lettuce, grapefruit, Meyer lemons, yellow onion, butternut squash and sweet potatos.
Greenling also lists the farm that each item comes from and has a profile for each.
The company hopes to be up and running by the end of January and is having a job fair in Allen on Monday. Who wouldn't want to drive a car with a giant banana on the top?