I’ve Been Using FoodKick for 3 Months — Here’s What I Like and Don’t Like About It

As the Deputy Food Director at Kitchn, I oversee our virtual test kitchen — assigning recipes to our food team and developing and testing several myself. And yes, I said virtual: Instead of one centralized test kitchen, our recipe developers and testers are located all across the country, meaning all of our recipes are created in our real-life home kitchens.

For me, this means I’m churning out cakes and casseroles from my small apartment in Carroll Gardens, Brooklyn, where both Whole Foods and Trader Joe’s are about a 15-minute walk away. I can manage the short trek if I’m picking up a few ingredients for dinner, but if I’ve got armloads of groceries to carry for recipe testing, it’s just not physically possible for me to get them home on foot. In my case, grocery delivery isn’t just a nice convenience, it’s a necessity. I’ve been using FoodKick — let’s take a deeper look.

FoodKick is powered by FreshDirect, so the groceries come from FreshDirect’s facility (I like to think of FoodKick as FreshDirect‘s little sister.) The biggest difference is that FoodKick offers same-day delivery, whereas FreshDirect requires more planning ahead. You can order the groceries from Foodkick’s website or the Foodkick app.

• Pricing and fees: The standard minimum for deliveries is $30. The delivery fee is $4.99, unless your order is being delivered within an hour, in which case it’s $5.99. The deliveries in your first 30 days of use are free. FoodKick also offers a service called DeliveryPass, which is $9.99/mo and gives you unlimited free deliveries.
• Where it’s available: Right now, FoodKick only delivers to Manhattan, Brooklyn, and Queens.

Sign up for FoodKick here.

My very favorite thing about FoodKick is how speedy the delivery is. I never have to wait longer than a few hours between the time I place the order to the time I’m unpacking the grocery bags. Because I’m often running last-minute tests on a recipe or trying out a viral trend the same day I spot it on Reddit, these quick delivery times are crucial. Plus, the delivery window is only one hour, so I pretty much know when to expect them.

The entire experience is also very seamless, and I’m never left guessing about the status of my order. As soon as I hit “checkout,” I receive both a text and an email confirming the order, and I receive another text when it’s out for delivery. If I want to update my shopping bag (to remove an item or add a last-minute one), I can easily do so as long as the order isn’t already on its way. I pay and tip when I check out online, so I don’t have to worry about having my wallet handy when my groceries are being delivered. I’ve only had positive experiences with the delivery couriers and the customer service representatives.

The food itself always arrives fresh and undamaged. Frozen items are separated into their own bag, so I can pop them in the freezer as soon as they’re delivered.

The only trouble I’ve ever had with FoodKick is that their selection is quite a bit smaller than FreshDirect. There have been times where they simply didn’t have the product I needed, or it was sold out. Sometimes, I have to buy an awkward quantity of something — I may only need one small onion, but my only option is to buy a bag of several.

I would also love to see FoodKick begin packing groceries in the reusable bags that FreshDirect uses! FreshDirect allows you to send back the bags with the delivery driver, which is a great system I would love to see FoodKick adopt.

FoodKick offers groceries from FreshDirect’s own line of products called Just FreshDirect. All the food sourced for the line has no artificial flavors, colors, or preservatives, and a lot of it comes from family farms, sustainable fisheries, and the like. Just FreshDirect groceries aren’t necessarily cheaper than the other items the delivery service offers, but they’re always high-quality and I like the mission of the brand.

FoodKick also has some great recipe suggestions! I often take a minute before starting my shopping to browse the home page and gather some inspiration. They also have a great Deals section that’s worth taking a look at before you check out.

I would consider myself a FoodKick superfan. If you live in one of the areas they deliver to, I highly recommend giving them a try.

Have you used FoodKick before? What did you think? Let us know in the comments!