Supporting over 100 farms and 90 artisan food makers in North Carolina, The Produce Box uses a team of neighborhood ambassadors to deliver fresh produce, meat, dairy, seafood and artisan items to doorsteps across North Carolina. This week, 97.9 The Hill’s Aaron Keck spoke with three neighborhood ambassadors about how it works and what’s in season right now.
This is an edited transcript of his discussion with Brittany Ledford, Amelia Rubino, and Frank Alford. Listen to the full interview here.
Aaron Keck: The Produce Box is your one-box shop for produce meats, dairy, seafood, and artisan items. They source food and items from local farms and neighborhood ambassadors deliver them to your door. We’re joined by three of those neighborhood ambassadors, Brittany Ledford, Amelia Rubino and Frank Alford to talk about The Produce Box and how it works. Everyone, thank you so much for being with us today. Brittany, let me start with you. I just gave the ten-second summary but give us a little bit of background on The Produce Box and what it is and how it works.
Brittany Ledford: You had a great summary there, but essentially, I have a group of maybe 20 to 30 customers, right near where I live. I’m in Pittsboro in Chatham County and I get their boxes. And then I spend my morning driving around adding items to their boxes that they’ve ordered and delivering on their front steps. Or sometimes I deliver in garages, or sometimes I put in coolers, just however they’ve asked that I deliver it.
Keck: How did you get involved with The Produce Box in the first place?
Ledford: I used to be a member years ago back when I had little kids and didn’t really want to drive to the farmer’s market. And then during the pandemic, I was looking for a little bit of extra work and I started because there was a huge demand during the pandemic, and I started with a route and have continued since.
Keck: And Amelia, how about you? How did you get started?
Amelia Rubino: I was a member as well and still am a member. In the last six months, I was looking for a fun activity to do in the morning and to connect with my local community. So I signed up to be one of our subs, so I don’t have a specific route and I get to help other people when they go on vacation, see new parts of the area and just help out where I can. It’s something I really enjoy. And I love my subscription.
Keck: Frank, how about you?
Frank Alford: I was a member a long time ago and then had to stop while I was working on my master’s degree and then used my master’s degree for a little while doing psychotherapy in the community, but then when the pandemic hit, I was like, whoa, okay, this is not working for me and my family right now. I’ve got two girls. I kept getting emails from The Produce Box that said they were looking for more. And I was like, oh, I’ll see what that’s about. And now I’ve got three routes basically, and about 200 customers that don’t order every week, but you know, maybe a fourth of them order every week or something like that. And so it’s been a great fit for me and my family. My kids get to come along and help out during the summer. So that’s a lot of fun.
Keck: Awesome. Speaking with Frank Alford. You just heard him, Amelia Rubino, Britney Ledford, all three neighborhood ambassadors with The Produce Box. Now back to Brittany. What’s a typical day for you as a neighborhood ambassador?
Ledford: Absolutely. The Produce Box truck comes and delivers my boxes to my doorstep. Every week it’s somewhere between 20 and 25. And then I spend a little bit of time in my driveway, organizing the boxes, swapping out items, adding in additional items. And then I load my car up. I’ve got to pack it in order so that I make sure I’m pulling out my first people first. And it’s a very organized process, which I really enjoy. And then I spend a couple of hours driving around Pittsboro. I listen to my podcast, it’s completely silent, nobody needs me, nobody’s asking me for anything, or my children aren’t there. So it’s pretty nice. It’s nice and quiet and a good two hours that I get to spend by myself.
Keck: Amelia, as a substitute with different routes, is it different for you?
Rubino: It is different every time and that’s something that I really personally enjoy. And I get to sign up with different people. I’ve subbed a route that’s kind of close to Frank before I sub in my local neighborhood of Cary and figure out what truck stop, I’m coming to and picking up my boxes for that order. I also do some organizing like Brittany to make sure that it can be the most efficient route. And it takes me about two hours. I listen to my audiobook. It’s really fun.
Keck: So you get to get a sense of what folks are ordering all over the Triangle. What are some of the popular items right now?
Rubino: I definitely think corn and zucchini are popular items. We’ve had some really great peaches and I believe there were some delicious melons this week. Personally, I got heirloom tomatoes and those were really great.
Keck: Nice. It’s great to get stuff that’s in season. Frank, how about you? What are the favorite items that you like to order?
Alford: We have definitely enjoyed the strawberries. They have a short season (in North Carolina,) but we can import some from the west. So it gives people still the strawberries that they want. But the blackberries I’ve really enjoyed this year and the corn and peaches were great. We still have peaches in season, so those are great. And now the boxes are getting a little heavier because we have watermelons in store now. We get a little bit more worked out these days, but that’s fine.
Keck: So Frank, folks who have never used the service before, who might be interested in signing up for the first time or are thinking about it, why should they give it a try?
Alford: I think it’s just a great way to do lots of different things together. Obviously, we’re supposed to be eating more fruits and vegetables and this is a way to do that. You can skip any week that you want to, and you can plan that out far ahead, so it’s not a pressurized thing where you have to get a box every week, but it’s nice for me when we do. Then it’s kind of like, okay, well, Tuesday night we get our box, it’s going to be a healthy prepared meal at home. And so, we get the family together and make a nice salad or roast some vegetables. And I like to get the chicken medallions because they’re easy to throw some marinade in and just fry up on the stove there. So it just kind of forces you to eat more fruits and vegetables in a way. And, I don’t naturally love vegetables, but these fruits and vegetables are the best I’ve ever had. It’s just really, really good stuff. So it encourages you to eat healthier, and especially the young ones to get them on board with eating healthier. It’s pretty exciting to see them enjoy fruits and vegetables.
Keck: You get it fresh; you get it local, it’s as good as it possibly can be. Brittany, I’ll let you have the last word. What should folks know about The Produce Box that we haven’t covered yet?
Ledford: I’m going to go off what Frank said: that it is the best, most fresh produce that you can possibly get. It is local, it is coming to your door days after it’s picked, and it is so good. Those peaches, they are amazing.
Keck: They’re really good this time of year, right? It’s definitely peach season.
Ledford: It is definitely peach season. And unless you’re going right to the peach orchard–which I’ve done before, and it is hot and it’s a lot of work–you’re not going to get them any fresher than you do from The Produce Box.
Keck: TheProduceBox.com is the website. Go there. Find out more. You can use the code CHAPELBORO and get $25 off your first order, so even more reason to sign up. Brittany Ledford, Amelia Rubino, Frank Alford, thank you all so much for being with us this morning.
Ledford: Thank you.
Alford: You’re welcome. Thanks for having us.
*Photos via The Produce Box
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