San Francisco Chronicle - (Sunday)
4. Bi-Rite Market via Instacart
With Instacart you can order groceries from any number of Bay Area stores, but I decided to hack the system to get meal delivery from one of my favorite San Francisco markets, Bi-Rite. Not only did it have the best selection of in-house prepared foods of the markets listed in the service’s roster, I know from experience that Bi-Rite is always reliable and delicious.
Order: Vietnamese noodle salad with mango, cucumber and spicy peanut dressing ($9.99) and spinach and quinoa salad with seeds, berries & lemon vinaigrette ($10.99). Upon ordering I was given an option for picking a substitution should Bi-Rite be out of one of the salads, I chose the ramen salad, which is what ended up being delivered. While not what I ordered, with its noodles, edamame, cabbage and seaweed, it hit the spot just fine.
Packaging: The two salads came in clear, plastic recyclable containers with dry garnishes and dressings held in compostable vessels.
Delivery: Smartphone app available.
Instacart offers a range of options for delivery, from 1 hour to several days out. Delivery fees depend on the size of the order and the window of time you choose for delivery. Deliveries over $35 are free if you sign up for Instacart Express membership, which is $99/year. (If you regularly use the service, this definitely seems like the way to go.) There is an option to tip drivers, although the recent kerfuffle that emerged following Instacart’s launch of a new pay structure in the fall, which some believed was a co-opting of employees’ tips, did give me pause when using the service. Instacart has since backpedaled on that decision.
A-
Grade: It would be nice if the online shop via Instacart had as many prepared meal options as Bi-Rite’s storefronts do.
www.instacart.com/store/bi-rite-market/storefront
Sarah Fritsche is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: sfritsche@sfchronicle.com. Twitter/Instagram: @foodcentric