So much fruit, so little time! Got a free box of yummy, almost all organic fruits from The Fruit Guys today — How will I eat it all? An all-fruit diet for the week?

How this fruit bounty came about: A few weeks ago, Tomas of The Closet Entrepreneur emailed me about a post he’d written about The Fruit Guys, cuz he thought I’d be interested. And I am!

Basically The Fruit Guys deliver mostly-organic, farm-direct produce all over the US, with a focus on workplaces, where many employees are still only given the choice between Doritos and Cheetos.

However, if given the choice, many people might opt for an apple over an overprocessed packet of trans fat saturated peanut butter crackers. The Fruit Guys’ idea’s to support sustainable agriculture AND healthier lifestyles, a fruity box at a time.

So I asked a whole buncha questions, cuz I’ve had some experiences (all positive) with organic fruit and veggie deliveries via ParadiseO and Organic Express. Both of those companies reused the fruit delivery boxes.

Moreover, ParadiseO is a SoCal based company, which obviously cuts down on the delivery fuel emissions issues.

Do The Fruit Guys reuse the boxes? How’re the boxes delivered? What makes you different from other fruit companies?

To all these Qs, I got detailed answers from Chris, a fruity dude. Basically, The Fruit Guys reuse the boxes locally in the Bay area, but obviously aren’t gonna pick up boxes from, say, Ohio.

However, they’re trying to use high % recycled content cardboard, and are trying to find other uses for the boxes. For ex, the boxes are sized to hold letter-sized file folders for storage (see my visual below — the apple’s there just to hold up the files).

My conclusion: I think I’m v. lucky in that I have all manner of organic produce delivery services in LA. San Francisco folk are lucky too. But most other places aren’t so lucky. In addition, most work places are gonna want any snacks displayed as close to vending-machine style as possible — which I think is why The Fruit Guys have those dividers between each fruit.

So — considering the fact that the avg. business isn’t gonna go to their local farmers’ market every week to pick up local fruits for its employees, The Fruit Guys seem to be providing an important service (a first step?) for workplaces.

Look forward to some good news for the Friday Freebie tomorrow –

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