ekh@piggy.UUCP (E. K. Harvey Jr.) (01/14/86)
[food for software] We are seriously considering using a bulk foods ordering and delivery service offered by "Suburban Foods". Their offer boils down to this: - enough food (meat, vegetables) for 4 "first meals" a week for six months - $54 a week ($1400 for six months) They also offer to sell you a "commercial quality" 20.3 cubic foot freezer, to be financed over three years (they claim $949 retail value). The total bill still comes to $54 a week because they give you a 20% discount on your food bill if you buy the freezer. They also offer to sell you a "commercial duty" microwave oven (again $900 retail value, again financed over three years). The total bill increases to $59 a week, they give you another 10% reduction on your food bill. Rather than bore you with more details, I would like to gain from the experience of any netters who have some experience with these type of outfits. - Does the price seem reasonable (their quantity of food does appear to be sufficient for ~100 meals)? - What are the pitfalls to look for? they use clear vacumn flash frozen wrapping they offer complete replacement of food if you buy their freezer, for a one-time $200 premium (mechanical failure or external power failure) they raise and butcher their own grain-fed beef If I get sufficient mail response, I'll post a summary. Gene Harvey - ihnp4!piggy!ekh
larry@kitty.UUCP (Larry Lippman) (01/18/86)
> We are seriously considering using a bulk foods ordering and delivery > service offered by "Suburban Foods". > Their offer boils down to this: > - enough food (meat, vegetables) for 4 "first meals" a week for six months > - $54 a week ($1400 for six months) > > They also offer to sell you a "commercial quality" 20.3 cubic foot freezer, > to be financed over three years (they claim $949 retail value). > The total bill still comes to $54 a week because they give you a > 20% discount on your food bill if you buy the freezer. Beware of this freezer deal. > They also offer to sell you a "commercial duty" microwave oven (again $900 > retail value, again financed over three years). The total bill increases to > $59 a week, they give you another 10% reduction on your food bill. Beware of this microwave oven deal. What do these price "reductions" tell you about how much money they are making off of you? > - Does the price seem reasonable (their quantity of food does appear > to be sufficient for ~100 meals)? Hell, no! That's $ 14.00 PER MEAL! That's a lot of money! > - What are the pitfalls to look for? > they use clear vacumn flash frozen wrapping No big deal. > they offer complete replacement of food if you buy their freezer, > for a one-time $200 premium (mechanical failure or external > power failure) That's a lot of money to pay for such "protection". If you are even slightly alert, you should not have any freezer loss. You should KNOW if you have a power failure, and I presume use the freezer often enough to KNOW if it is running, thereby giving you ample warning to call a repairman and/or start finding neighbors, friends, relatives, etc. to borrow freezer space. There are also freezer temperature alarms which you can buy for a damn sight less than $ 200.00! > they raise and butcher their own grain-fed beef No guarantee of quality. My advice is to forget about this outfit; this deal sounds like BAD NEWS. If you you want to go this bulk food route, screw 'em and do it yourself: 1. Call up some restaurant supply places and buy your own "commercial" quality freezer. There is a large market of used restaurant equipment, and you may find a decent freezer for well under $ 900.00. I would use some caution in buying a used commercial freezer, to the extent that I would talk to someone at a repair service and get some background information on the particular make and model before making a final purchase decision. Better yet, if you are serious about buying something used, pay a repair service the $ 50.00 or so they would charge for a service call to look at it first. 2. What on earth do you need a "commercial" quality microwave oven for? Commercial microwave ovens are designed for continuous service for far more hours per day that you'll ever use one. Their $ 900.00 "deal" will buy THREE perfectly decent "consumer" quality microwave ovens! 3. As for buying meat and other food in bulk, just go to a commercial resturant provision company. The vast majority of such commercial sources will sell to anyone off the street who buys in their standard case quantities. ==> Larry Lippman @ Recognition Research Corp., Clarence, New York <== ==> UUCP {decvax|dual|rocksanne|rocksvax|watmath}!sunybcs!kitty!larry <== ==> VOICE 716/741-9185 {rice|shell}!baylor!/ <== ==> FAX 716/741-9635 {G1, G2, G3 modes} duke!ethos!/ <== ==> seismo!/ <== ==> "Have you hugged your cat today?" ihnp4!/ <==
km@hp-lsd.UUCP (km) (01/20/86)
We ordered from a similar company (Home Food Service, Colorado Springs) and concluded it was a real ripoff once the order was delivered, and we could tally up how much the same amount of food would have cost at the grocery store. After deducting the fruit, vegetables, and cheese, the meat turned out to cost us an average of $6-$7 per pound! I called the company, but they never would tell me what their idea of cost per pound was on the meat. They finally added 50% more food to our order at no extra charge, so we did not file a complaint with the Better Business Bureau. >> - $54 a week ($1400 for six months) >> - Does the price seem reasonable (their quantity of food does appear >> to be sufficient for ~100 meals)? Think about this. You are talking about $14 per meal! You could buy two pounds of good meat plus enough veggies for four people for around $8 at the grocery store. Kathy Moser {hplabs,ihnp4!hpfcla}!hp-lsd!km