In a sprawling fulfillment center outside of Chicago where each section’s temperature is set for the type of food it houses, Peapod produce guru Tony Stallone talks about his fresh tomatoes, coddled at about 50 degrees and waiting for shipment within hours to customers as far away as Indianapolis.
Like the peppers, pineapples and other fruits and vegetables processed through the Lake Zurich, Ill., facility, Stallone says, tomatoes will only retain their best characteristics, reddish, plump and sweet, if they're kept in areas with just the right temperature and air flow, then within a day of arriving at the fulfillment center shipped out in temperature-controlled containers to customers. Stallone, vice president of merchandising, should know. His expertise in handling fresh produce was handed down through a family business started by his lemon-trading great-grandfather.
Eyeing the prize
Because Peapod knows how to deliver fresh produce, meat and dairy products, the online grocery company says, it is also winning over shoppers for all things grocery—shoppers who realize that getting fresh food along with packaged goods on their doorstep doesn't require a trip to a crowded supermarket. It's an expertise, along with other things Peapod has learned while making more than 18 million home deliveries since forming in 1989, that co-founder and president Andrew Parkinson figures sets Peapod apart from the competition.
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