What if you lived in a world where fresh, local, organic food was delivered right to your doorstep? What if you could choose a recipe and have the ingredients come to you washed, chopped up and measured out so that all you had to do was follow some simple instructions? And what if – viola! – 15 minutes later, you have a delicious meal you can feel good about because it's both healthy and environmentally sustainable? If you live in Austin, you live in such a world, thanks to Greenling.
Greenling is an online grocer that delivers local, organic food from farms straight to Austin households and businesses. At every step of its operation, Greenling chooses sustainable methods, making it not only good for you, but good for the environment. It is perfect for people who like the idea of shopping at farmer's markets, but do not have enough time in their schedules to make that a reality.
The company is the brainchild of Mason Arnold. The son of two certifiable hippies from Dripping Springs, Arnold's teenage rebellion consisted of identifying himself as a conservative Republican. With no real intention of becoming a steward of the environment, he graduated from the University of Texas with a chemical engineering degree and went to work for an environmental consultant firm.
"It wasn't until I was there and I saw firsthand what was happening to the environment I knew I had to do something," he said.
Once he realized the largest pollutant to Texas's rivers and lakes was residential fertilizers, he started the organic lawn care service EarthAction Lawn and Landscape. Wanting to connect more with people, he sold his company and explored other passions such as food, water and energy. Agriculture is a huge consumer of both energy and water, and food is an effective way to connect with people. Arnold and a college friend began brainstorming ideas for food supply models.
"We started looking at supplying direct from farmers to consumers with an online intermittent interface and realized we had an incredible untapped supply model to get food from point A to point B that had not been done before," Arnold said. Greenling was started in 2005 with a handful of customers and farmers. Today, Greenling is the largest single source of local food and the largest variety of local food in Austin. The company has about 2,000 customers and works with about 60 farmers. It has more than 20 employees and a number of vehicles in its delivery fleet, including one with a big banana on top.
Greenling and Arnold have been recognized with 16 awards for innovation, use of technology, environmental stewardship and community service, including Austin Business Journal's 2010 Green Business Leader, the Austin Chronicle's Best Local Food Company for three four years in a row and PC Magazine's 2007 Small Business Award. Women are generally the ones who do the food shopping for the family, so it is no surprise that Greenling's average customer is a woman with a family. Consumers, however, are drawn to Greenling for various reasons.
"We have three main consumer circles," said Jessica Evans, Greenling's 'lemon aide.' "People find Greenling usually because they are interested in wellness, convenience or sustainability. We provide healthy, organic food free of pesticides, growth hormones and never radiated. We offer 24-hour shopping through our user-friendly website, free delivery and customized calendars. We also empower those who support green activism, have sustainable lifestyles and want to participate in the local food movement."
Shopping is easy at Greenling. Customers log in and can browse through categories such as meat, produce, dairy, beer and wine and non-grocery. In addition to working with farmers, Greenling works with local vendors so customers can pick up some organic margarita mix or gluten-free Brazilian cheese rolls along with their veggies. The most popular item is the Local Box. It costs $35 and is filled with in-season produce, which changes from week to week. When customers place orders online, they are given a delivery date. The delivery comes in lime "Can-we-say-bright?" green plastic bins that are filled with recycled and shredded office paper for extra padding and insulation. Perishable items are placed in insulated bags and surrounded by frozen recycled water bottles. The bins are delivered to households and placed in the shade where they can last up to four hours.
"If we can keep food cold in Texas, we can keep food cold anywhere," Evans said. Greenling delivers from Georgetown to San Antonio. Arnold hopes to expand into Dallas and Houston within two years. "I think any community can benefit from this business model, and Dallas and Houston have underserved markets for local and organic food," Arnold said.
Greenling is helping rebuild local food systems with little impact to the environment. Because Greenling delivers so many food boxes and designs routes to be environmentally conscious, the trucks use 86 percent less fuel than customers who drive to the grocery store. All of the office's energy comes from renewable energy sources – mainly wind power – and the Internet server runs off of solar power.
And recycling? Pretty much everything in the office – paper, glass, computers and printer copiers – is recycled, and Styrofoam cups and plastic wear are never used. Greenling is reinventing the way consumers shop for organic, local food by using an old form of technology to bring back the old relationship of farmer and customer.
For more information about Greenling, call 512-440-8449 or visit www.greenling.com.
