Narrative Food -- The Next Chapter

Hi Everyone,

It’s with great sadness, but also with some excitement about the future, that I wanted to let you all know that next week will be the last week of home deliveries for Narrative Food. After that, Narrative Food will pivot our entire focus to our new mail order site which features shelf-stable/pantry foods (starting in February this site will live at narrativefood.com and we will send you more info about this by email).

Since the pandemic, the landscape has changed a lot for us, and after investing in our infrastructure to meet the incredible demand we experienced during the pandemic, we find ourselves back to our pre-pandemic volume but with much increased costs. This means that unfortunately, home delivery of fresh foods just isn’t a sustainable business model for us anymore.

What does this mean for you? You will still be able to order many of your favorite items – from dry farmed walnuts to locally made granola, to regenerative organic persimmon vinegar, to direct trade spices – and it will come to you promptly by mail instead of couriers. You will be able to order gifts for your family or company.

What I’m most excited about is our new recurring pantry box – shipping nationwide – so please tell your friends far and wide – This box will ship monthly and include specially curated items on a different theme each month, with recipes and stories to bring these items to life, and a donation to a related non profit. As always, these items will be sourced from small makers who care about the environment, and tell stories of community. By eliminating the huge demands of fresh foods, fleets of drivers, new boxes needing to be designed every single week, my band-width for curation and story-telling – the areas I really love – will be hugely increased.

Lastly, many of you know that after the Woolsey Fire I moved, ironically, to a converted grocery store in Echo Park. I’m really excited to offer the opportunity for all of you to visit by appointment, and buy in person from our “secret pantry” of curated yummies. After knowing so many of you by name over the years, I would love the opportunity to meet you in person this way!

I do hope you turn to your local farmers markets or growers that offer a CSA program, for your produce needs! I am happy to provide recommendations.

Thank you again for making these past 12 years possible, and trusting my company for something as fundamental as your food. I want to thank all of our home delivery stakeholders – from our customers, to our growers and makers, to our crowd funding investors, to our hard working team – for twelve years of relationships which I hold dear to my heart. 12 years of amazing food on the table which nourished a community and our soil – And since I’m my oldest customer – I’m so grateful for 12 years of lasting memories for my entire household – of meals prepared and enjoyed together as a family – and then there’s the 12 years of learning – learning about food systems, about community, about how to serve you best, and how to lead our amazing team. All of this thanks to our amazing community – thanks to you. We are excited about what the future holds for us and truly hope many of you will continue with us on this adventure. This will help me continue to employ Narrative’s faithful team, each one of whom has earned a huge debt of gratitude for everything they have done to support our mission to get great food to your doorsteps.

See you soon!

Jennifer Field Piette