Just in time for social distancing, a new food delivery option has become available in Brookline: Feast & Fettle, a Rhode Island-based gourmet meal delivery service. Founded by a personal chef, Feast & Fettle aims to bring restaurant-quality meals to your doorstep. All you have to do is reheat.
Here’s how it works. Every week you select your menu online from a selection of at least eight entrees. Ingredients and allergens are all listed in the weekly menus. The meals are then made by chefs in a commercial kitchen one day before delivery, chilled, and then delivered fresh to your home. Their kitchen is in East Providence, just a 30-minute drive from Brookline. This isn’t a meal kit service; there’s no cooking required. Whenever possible, the ingredients used are organic and locally sourced.
“Our model is very different; it’s a local model. We do everything from prep, package, cook, deliver, we own the whole stack. And what that allows us to do is offer a higher quality product that stays fresh longer,” says CEO Carlos Ventura.
The service also differs from others by offering entrees and sides separately to accommodate potentially widespread dietary restrictions and preferences in a group of eaters.
Delivery is free, and shoppers can choose whether to get all their meals on Monday or to get two deliveries during the week to extend the life of their order. “Our meals are good for four days after delivery. So if you get a meal on Monday, we guarantee freshness through Friday,” says Ventura.
But it’s not just about providing customers with quality, easy to create meals. Feast & Fettle has a substantial philanthropic arm as well. For every order placed, the company donates $1 to Edesia Nutrition, which provides sustenance to malnourished children globally. Edesia is based in Rhode Island as well and has reached over eight million malnourished children in over 50 countries since 2010.
Cleaning practices at Feast & Fettle, while always strong in the kitchen, have increased in the wake of COVID-19. “In terms of sanitization, we’re extremely serious. We do daily cleaning of the entire kitchen and a weekly deep clean,” says Ventura. That deep clean includes scrubbing the walls and the stove hood, procedures often only done in restaurant kitchens quarterly or less frequently. Everyone from food packers to delivery agents will be wearing gloves as well.
Feast & Fettle also offers a gifting service if you’d like to buy a week of delivered meals for someone else. During social distancing, that may be a good gift for an elderly neighbor or relation who is concerned about picking up groceries. Meals are left in an insulated bag outside; no signature or exchange required.