

Show HN: Fresh baked bread, delivered to your door via SMS - getbreadbox
http://getbreadbox.com/#

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getbreadbox
Hi HN!

We're still working hard on finishing up the tech behind this, as well as
locking in partnerships with a few more bakeries before we launch with a small
group of early customers, but I wanted to post here and gauge interest among
the HN folks in SF.

We have about 300 people on our email list so far, and will try to keep our
launch small so we can deliver top-notch service, but please sign up if you
are interested in this.

The reason we're so excited about this project can be boiled down to
logistics. To simplify and streamline logistics, our business is modeled more
closely to the milkman than the pizza delivery man. On Sunday, we send out a
picture message with one bread choice for each day of the coming week. If you
want any of them, you reply via SMS and we bring it to your doorstep.

Since our drivers can make one pickup and then drop off identical products to
every customer, delivery becomes far simpler and cheaper.

Lots of smart folks are vying for the one-stop grocery delivery market, and we
think it will become a war of logistics for who wins that massive market
(personally, I'm pulling for Instacart). We're approaching a different and
smaller (but still quite large) market, from a different angle.

Fresh bread is our first product because it's almost universally loved, and it
arguably decreases in quality every hour after being baked. Eventually we hope
to expand to still-simple, curated line-up of high quality, short shelf-life
specialty foods (coffee, cheese, etc.)

Sign up if you're interested, but more importantly, leave us some feedback
here. :)

~~~
silencio
(I live in SF)

You should list some of the bakers you get bread from on the site/signup and
not just in the app. I'm hesitating signing up because I have no real interest
in bread delivery unless it's from certain bakeries that I know are worth the
extra effort over buying a loaf of Acme bread or whatever at the local Safeway
or corner market. Like Josey Baker and Arizmendi, which I see in the
screenshots. And even then it's like well... I don't just want bread, I also
want like a bunch of their other products (scones, croissants, etc.). Maybe
I'm better served by Postmates/Taskrabbit, but more bread products than just
loaves of bread would be awesome albeit more complicated.

Also if you could deliver Tartine bread I would be so all over that in an
instant! Especially right out of the oven :) Even though I like to bake and I
have two loaves' worth of dough proofing in my kitchen right now.

~~~
koliber
I would be willing to risk $6 one time to test out the service. If the bread
wows me, I would not care which bakery the bread came from. If it underwhelms,
I have not lost that much.

~~~
silencio
It's not the $6+ or the service as much as it is my existing bread
preferences. Like if all they did was offer Firebrand bread you couldn't pay
me to buy that or spend my time even looking at the service, whereas I would
pay $15 for a loaf of Tartine delivered within a couple hours in a heartbeat.

Maybe it's because I have such a high standard for bread at my table (my
roommate is a foodie too and I can go to Thorough Bread & Pastry, Bi-Rite
Market, or Tartine in 10 minutes... or I can bake my own sour sourdough in 30)
but knowing where the bread comes from interests me more than what varieties
are offered or how convenient the service is.

But I say this as someone that _just_ baked a loaf of beer+cheddar+mustard
bread and I smell like pure deliciousness that you can't buy from a delivery
service, so maybe the service isn't for me.

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wikwocket
This is a fun idea, and you have a great landing page for it. I hope it takes
off!

That said, the idea delivering _just_ bread leaves a dry taste in my mouth (ha
ha). I rarely get to work thinking, "You know what I'd like? A loaf of plain
bread!"

Have you considered including bagels, butter or spreads, fresh fruit, etc, for
people wanting to provide breakfast for the office?

~~~
muraiki
There are some breads that are simply delicious meals in themselves. A local
bakery makes this, which I can joyfully eat by itself for a meal:
[http://www.mediterrabakehouse.com/mtathosfirebread.html](http://www.mediterrabakehouse.com/mtathosfirebread.html)

That being said, having some good dipping oil and olives doesn't hurt. :)

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dseu
6 dollars for a loaf a bread! hahah!

~~~
getbreadbox
The bread we're selling retails for $5 to $7 at local markets, so there isn't
much difference in price.

If you're comparing to Wonderbread, then sure $6 is pricy – but it's tough to
find a quality loaf of bread on the day it was baked for under $5.

Thank you for the feedback – we know this isn't for everyone, but we're hoping
to offer the best quality at a price that compares to retail.

~~~
dseu
If you think your only competition is Wonderbread, then that makes sense.
However, there are places like Trader Joe's and Whole Foods that offer bakery
fresh high quality bread that isn't "tough to find" \- they're everywhere.

~~~
TylerE
I live in a town of 120k. We have neither - the nearest Whole Foods is over 75
miles away, and the nearest Trader Joe's is farther.

~~~
miket
..and this service won't be available in your area any time soon, either.

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colinsidoti
I'm excited about this.

I think you'd be better off with a delivery fee instead of rolling it in to
the cost. My local wine shop sells fresh baked bread from the local bakery. I
go in 2-3 times a week for bread, and they've gotten to know me as a regular.
Each loaf is $3 and I'll buy one or two depending on what I'm doing that
night.

If I just wanted one loaf, I'd be okay footing the extra $3 for the bread.
Walking to the wine shop is pretty freaking annoying, and I think they might
resent me for rarely buying cheese/wine.

But if I wanted two loaves, I just can't imagine spending $12.

That's just me. If you take anything away from this post, let it be this: When
you come to Boston/Cambridge, get Iggy's bread. Or pick a few North End
bakers.

Another thought...maybe go cheap on the bread and build margin into
cheese/meats. Call it the Car-cuterie ;)

~~~
kgrin
Since we're recommending Boston-area bakeries, allow me to put in a good word
for When Pigs Fly!

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pdknsk
I'm really curious why you have chosen delivery by reply (if that wasn't a
term before, now it is), and if the reply is parsed automatically. If so, I
predict plenty of costumers incorrectly spelling Focaccia and what other fancy
bread names there may be, and not getting delivery.

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JCBC
Looks like a great idea and I signed up to be notified if/when you'll be
launching in Vancouver, B.C.!

The price also seems reasonable - we use Cobs Bread for our fresh bread, and a
loaf is between $4 and $6.

But I'm curious why SMS was chosen, instead of through a web app? Is the
purchase charged through the phone bill this way?

And how will the product be packaged in order to prevent squirrels or other
animals from taking a bite if the customer isn't home?

~~~
notduncansmith
I'm not an employee so I don't speak for Breadbox, but I would imagine
they're:

A) Staying lean. A web app means web developers, probably 2-3 (they could
probably get by with one right now, or even just a contractor).

B) Making it easy to interface with. You don't need to remember anything, all
you need to do is respond when they text you.

SMS is even more efficient than push notifications, since those would require
them to build two native apps (if they only build one, they lose a big
potential market). Not to mention, you still lose out on customers without
smartphones; not as much of a problem these days, but I'm sure they have
customers on feature phones.

Also, push notifications can get lost in the shuffle - when one gets a text,
though, one typically responds immediately.

SMS is expensive to send, but they may have a way around that, or they just
crunched the numbers and save money on SMS over more developers.

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xn
I've been wanting this, so I'm happy to see you launching in PDX, but I want
fresh bread every day. It doesn't make sense once a week. Fresh bread
delivered today isn't fresh bread tomorrow.

I'd love to get a Lovejoy Bakers sourdough baguette or a New Seasons french
baguette delivered every morning, maybe with fresh squeezed orange juice.

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notduncansmith
I love the idea of the service, and the lander is well-designed.

One bug: you forgot to wrap the down arrow in an anchor tag.

Also, would you guys happen to be hiring?

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jamhan
Err, bread can't be delivered via SMS. Perhaps you should write: "Order by SMS
and have it delivered to your door"

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seancoleman
I would love this type of service but with food catered to individuals with
gluten-intolerance or celiac disease.

~~~
getbreadbox
That's definitely on our minds, and we certainly plan to include some g-free
breads from time to time. What other foods would you like to see?

~~~
seancoleman
For me, ready-to-eat health foods. However, healthy is subjective in a world
where low-fat, high-carbohydrate diets are promoted by the American Heart
Association. I'm not paleo, but it's the best litmus test I use for if food is
healthy.

I don't want to discount what you guys/gals are doing. I think this is great
and don't let my one data point detract from your mission. There are tons of
bread lover's out there, unfortunately I'm just not one of them.

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coltr
Interesting. Isn't this something a TaskRabbit could do though?

~~~
getbreadbox
Well, TaskRabbit could do it at a much higher price.

Our thinking is that if you like high quality, fresh bread, then you can sign
up to each week have options of different bread from different bakers – and
when you see one you like, we'll deliver it to you.

By offering just one product each day, we're able to do deliveries highly
efficiently (like newspaper delivery, not pizza delivery), so we're able to
deliver a loaf of bread to your house for a price that compares to what you'd
pay at the bakery or a market that sells high quality bread.

~~~
xn
Newspaper delivery is cheaper than a newstand. I hope you can get to the scale
where daily delivery with a six-months subscription, for example, is even
cheaper than going to a bakery.

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mmanfrin
Interesting idea, hope you do well.

