The FruitGuys, or what does mango really taste like?

Seasonal, local(ish) fruit delivery from small farmers right on your office or home doorstep. Yum.

Mon, Jun 01 2009 at 12:53 PM EST

Grabbing a snack in most offices means hitting the vending machines for high-sugar, empty-carb chips or cookies. The FruitGuys are looking to help offices change that. They’re a green and sustainability-focused company that delivers farm-fresh, organic & conventional fruit to offices across the country. Recently, they launched their home delivery service, making it easy for everyone to access the best locally produced fruit.

They sent me a box of their organic fruit to sample – a huge box. It’s full of bananas, apples, oranges, strawberries, mangos, kiwis, pears and more. My oldest son had gotten some mango water ice the other day and cut open a mango that The FruitGuys had sent us and did a taste test comparing the two. His conclusion: mangos are really good (he’d never had one before,) but mango water ice tastes nothing like a real mango. He’s now after me to make some mango smoothies with real mangos.

There you have it. When introduced to the real deal, even a 9 year old can tell that it’s better.

Here’s how The FruitGuys works. During peak season 70-90 percent of the fruit mixes offered are locally grown within the regions they serve (East Coast, Midwest, West Coast) and literally go from the farm to home or office within 3-4 days. That means that the box I got here in New Jersey was different than a box someone in California would get. When it’s not peak season, obviously fruits will come from father away.

The FruitGuys offer three basic boxes.

Harvest Flyer

The widest variety of seasonal fruit like apples, oranges, pears, peaches, grapes, kiwi, blood oranges, tangerines, grapefruit, bananas, apricots, plums and tangerines. This box offers the best of what's in season.

Organic

For those who support organic agriculture. This seasonal mix is similar to the Harvest Flyer, but all the fruit is certified organic. Content varies by season.

Staples

Includes a delicious mix of bananas, oranges and apples. They keep it interesting by offering a few different varieties of apples and citrus every week. Occasionally throughout the year when apples and oranges are not in season or available at the level of quality The Fruit Guys require, they will substitute a seasonal fruit instead.

The boxes that the fruit arrives in are made from between 75- to 100-percent post-consumer recycled cardboard (depending on area) and printed with soy-based inks. In the San Francisco Bay Area, they pick them up for reuse. In other areas, you can use them for things like file storage (they have been designed to fit standard sized file folders) or you can recycle them.

I like the fruit, obviously, but I also like that The FruitGuys are sourcing as local as possible. I like that they work closely with farmers – you can see videos with some of the farmers they work with here. I even like the way they’ve designed the box.

CNN did a piece on The FruitGuys. You can learn a little more about them in this video.

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