What do you get when you mix in fresh produce and seasonal local products? You get grazy, a woman-owned grazing box company focused on partnering with local farmers and ingredients. From their produce to the actual packaging boxes, everything is sourced locally.
The Boston, Massachusetts company is focused on providing the best for their customers. We spoke with grazy’s founder Kelley on what inspired grazy, how Zapiet has helped grazy with local delivery and where she sees grazy in the next five years.
What inspired you to start grazy and where does your inspiration come from?
Kelley: I have a community garden plot from which I grow and am provided a lot of great produce. I would host friends and family and would introduce them to cheese pairings using the fruits and vegetables from my garden. I realized there was a large social media trend growing surrounding charcuterie and cheese boards and felt there was a need for grazing boards and gifts that highlight sustainable, fresh, local ingredients from small farms and makers delivered in beautifully designed packaging as if you were receiving a luxurious gift. I also knew there was an importance around providing plant-based options just as fabulous as our vegetarian and meat options. grazy was never founded to revolve around me and how I craft the boards - it is a company founded to lift up and put the focus on the community whose pillars are the small businesses and farmers that craft all of the delicious products we use.
Tell us about your produce, everything is sources locally correct?
Kelley: grazy's boards and gifts are currently made up of 60-70% locally made products and 100% USA made products in addition to vegan products. The percentage of locally sourced products goes up significantly during the spring and summer due to seasonality and the fact that we have the harsh New England winters working against us from a fresh fruit perspective! We always strive to use the area's seasonal ingredients to avoid having to ship products across the country to get to grazy HQ. Our packaging is all locally manufactured and is recyclable/compostable.
Everything from your produce to your box is sustainable, how important was that for grazy?
Kelley: When creating grazy, we knew that sustainability had to be the core of our business regardless of the price tag on sustainable packaging and ingredients. We took six months finding a local packaging company that could fulfill our needs for recyclable and compostable packaging. It was important to us to find a local manufacturer of this because we knew that shipping pallets of boxes across the country to Boston was the least sustainable thing we could do! Outside of packaging, we recognize the huge environmental footprint of the agriculture industry and are always researching sustainable agriculture and speaking to our vendors about their practices. Sustainability is a constantly evolving practice, one full of learnings and we are constantly growing and improving in this area.
How has Zapiet helped being part of your business operations?
Kelley: When grazy was founded, we knew that we wanted to have items that could be delivered, picked up from our kitchen and shipped nationwide to reach as many customers as possible. Zapiet - Pickup + Delivery was the most user friendly way for us to manage our varying products and clearly identify the methods of delivery available for each one.
In addition, we have our shipping warehouse and our kitchen - we're able to manage inventory at both of these locations with Zapiet so that our product availability is organized (when our brains are typically traveling a mile a minute!) Zapiet has made logistics surrounding the management of our inventory so straight forward, allowing us to focus on other parts of our business!
What is an absolute must try from grazy?
Kelley: The true grazy experience is our classic medium board, a cheese board with local honey and fresh grown produce & a bottle of Tost sparkling white tea which is made in Vermont! The perfect night in, if you ask us (we're not biased at all!) If you're outside Boston, our DIY board kit is bursting with local products that are a MUST try and can be shipped nationwide!
Where do you see yourself and grazy in the next 5 years?
grazy is hustling to be in businesses and homes across the US providing only the most premium food products and gifts. grazy will continue to support sustainable practices and small farms and makers - that is something we will never compromise on. We continue to grow our vegan offerings and are well positioned to be a one stop shop for vegan gifting and hosting.
We have been drooling over these grazy boards! They are absolutely beautiful! To learn more about Zapiet or Zapiet- Pickup + Delivery view our video tutorials and explore the app. Get started using the Zapiet - Pickup + Delivery from Shopify and get a 30 day free trial.
