Photo Courtesy of Direct Eats
Direct Eats doesn’t deliver takeout; the website boasts a collection of healthy and specialty food items for your household at low per-item costs.
Founder David Hack got the idea from his own life.
“It actually started originally with my wife,” said Hack, “she was at Whole Foods and wanted a box of Luna bars and realized you couldn’t just simply buy a box of Luna bars; you literally had to take every Luna bar out of the box, have them scan it individually—you got no price breaks for buying it in any kind of mass or bulk or bundle and that’s really kind of what initiated the idea.”
Basically, Direct Eats creates a personalized food shopping experience where customers can filter products based on what they want and their dietary restrictions. They can then buy bulk quantities of their favorite products—or new finds—at extremely low prices. It’s a Costco you don’t need to buy a membership for; an Amazon for specialty foods.
“You’re going to get ten times the selection at half the price of Whole Foods,” says Hack, “That’s a winning proposition for most consumers.”
Photo Courtesy of Direct Eats
Shoppers can find all of their favorites alongside smaller brands.
“You can have everything that a Whole Foods carries of course, you’re going to get your Amy’s, your Luna bars, whatever you want,” said Hack, “but you’re also going to discover all kinds of new and exciting things from all over the country.”
Though larger brands are on the site, Hack is excited for the smaller vendors as well.
“The idea is that we take local and make that national,” said Hack, “We take the best of the best from across the country and allow every consumer to get access to it.”
With over 25,000 products currently on the website, there’s certainly a wide selection. According to Hack, that number is increasing fast.
“We are growing at around 500 products or so every day,” he said, “we’ll have north of 50,000 products in the next year, which is roughly 5-10 times bigger as far as pantry stuff than Whole Foods.”
The site’s unique filtering method makes it simple to adhere to dietary needs. With options ranging from nut-free to vegan to fair trade, all kinds of consumer needs can be easily found.
“I think at the end of the day, everyone has so many specific health needs and whether that’s gluten free or peanut free—which in some cases can be life threatening—this could totally make their world about them, not about what’s best for the store,” said Hack.
Photo Courtesy of Direct Eats
In the end, Direct Eats makes it simple for people to stock their pantry with good quality, natural foods at low prices, additionally offering free shipping to anywhere in the continental United States.
“We’re healthy food shoppers,” said Hack about his own family, “as parents, we want to make the best decisions for our five kids so that they have the best choices and the best food.”
For more information on Direct Eats, click here.
-by Kari Sonde
