Door to Door Organics (DTDO) is changing the way our area, from Grand Rapids, Michigan, to Perrysburg, Ohio, receive healthy, fresh foods by means of online grocery shopping. With the click of a mouse, a variety of organic groceries can be delivered weekly right to your doorstep—a convenience for those who want to incorporate more local, organic produce in their diet without the sacrifice of time and effort.
“For this [Toledo] to be the fastest-growing location, when we are in places like Boulder and Chicago, it’s really interesting,” said Carlos Collier, the company’s location director. “I think it speaks to the fact that people really want to be healthier. They really want to know where their food is coming from. They really want to support local agriculture and local purveyors.”
User friendly veggies
Kimberly Chapman, a customer who started buying from Door to Door Organics a year ago, likes the website’s ease of use and shopping options.
“The site’s so user-friendly and you can trade stuff out,” said Chapman, owner of TONIC, a health and fitness business in Maumee. “With crop-shares, you can’t pick and choose what you need. With Door to Door Organics, if I don’t want radishes, I can trade for tomatoes.”
Not every city or town is eligible for delivery, so customers are asked first to enter their zip code to determine eligibility. If service is available, you can start shopping from the menu, which has expanded in recent years and now includes organic meat, fish, dairy products and baked goods. When ordering fruits and vegetables, from avocados and apples to mint and chard, customers pick from four box sizes with customized content. Prices range from $23.99 for a “Bitty” box (up to five fruit types and five vegetable varieties; feeds 1-2 people) to $55.99 for a large box (seven to eight fruit types and nine to 10 vegetable varieties; feeds family of vegetarians).
Locals love local
The menu, refreshed weekly and tailored by season, features local products where available. Customers select delivery options (weekly or biweekly) and delivery times. Shipped orders come with recipes matched with the boxed items to help customers plan meals.
One special option, the local box, features only items from Michigan and Ohio farms. “Because of the increasing network of farmers that we’re able to pull from, the local box is getting bigger and more exciting,” Collier said.
“We try to find local options for all of our products,” said Anna Savone, a grocery specialist at DTDO. “I think that part of the fun of eating these products is understanding the process of how it was made and why did that person decide to make it.”
DTDO, founded in Pennsylvania in 1997, is a leader in promoting organic produce online. It set out to only sell produce certified under U.S. Department of Agriculture rules as 100 percent organic. A Michigan branch was established in 2007, followed by the 2009 opening of a warehouse in Livonia. The branch helps local farms, including those in the Toledo-area, with the process of becoming certified organic, based on strict rules set forth through the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
It is no wonder that their drive to do good traverses into charity. DTDO donates produce weekly to local food banks. In November, the Michigan branch donated 14,630 pounds of food.
Growth plans for its Michigan Midwest hub call for offering prepared meals and partnering with local chefs. Ultimately, the company wants to become a one-stop provider for delivering healthy foods to the home any day of the week.
“It’s a very exciting time. There’s a lot of pioneer work being done,” said Collier. “And that kind of pioneer spirit got us to where we are and is what will get us to where we need to be.”
To learn more, visit michigan.doortodoororganics.com/shop-good-food
