Imagine having gourmet ingredients delivered to your door every month. Now add to that the fact that these ingredients are all made by hand in the USA with no GMOs. We’re talking products like blueberry extract, blood orange olive oil and dark chocolate malted fudge. Are you hooked? Cause we definitely are. This gourmet ingredient service exists, and it’s provided by Boca-basedHatchery, a monthly subscription service for chef curated items like the ones listed above.
For $25 a month, or $20 a month if you sign up for a full year, you receive five to six (large) sample sizes of hand-selected artisan ingredients. They could range from jellies and jams to seasonings and spices. They’re individually wrapped and packaged using completely biodegradable materials — no plastic or bubble wrap here — and come with a booklet that tells you a little bit about each maker and his, her or their ingredient.
“We’re not just trying to sell products,” says founder Max Friedman, a 26-year-old Delray Beach resident who was born and raised in Boca. “We’re trying to tell a story.”
A more detailed version of their backgrounds live on the Hatchery website, under “The Guide” tab. The Guide also includes a series of recipe ideas and catchy 15-second how-to videos.
And if you decide you really love a particular ingredient, you can buy the full-sized version online. Shipping is free for the featured items of the month. For all other items, shipping is $4.95 or free for orders of more than $35.
The process involves Friedman, his five-person Boca team and a set of chefs located all over the country. The items are first selected based on preliminary qualifications mentioned earlier: they can’t be available on a mass level or contain any GMOs, and they must be made in the U.S. The product is then sent over to the Boca office, where it is tested — first by itself, then with an item, then with an original recipe. Friedman says roughly one out of every 10 ingredients make the final cut.
Though Hatchery just launched in December, it already has a large online presence: nearly 8,000 Twitter followers, more than 12,000 Facebook likes and more than 12,000 Instagram followers. Friedman can’t reveal the number of his subscribers just yet, since the company is still in its beginning stages and seeking investors — but the future of Hatchery looks bright. He downplays these impressive social media numbers, saying they still have a long way to go, but his passion and enthusiasm are uncontainable.
“We’re in the beginning of something really great,” he says.
