Oahu Fresh

I was informed about this company through a close friend of mine and I thought it was such a wonderful idea! When I emailed Matt initially for more information he was very informative and attentive to all of my questions with a rapid response time. Though at first I was concerned when he said that in order for my house to be a drop off spot that I needed to have I believe it was 10 participants. I knew my next door neighbor was all for it but it would take some time to reach out and inform all of the residents in my association about this service. Matt said that it would be fine for the first few deliveries if it was just my neighbor and I. I had also asked him if he could include some flyers so that I could post them in the announcement board in my association to help get the word out. Matt seemed to like this idea, but the fliers never appeared in my bag. Then one day when I asked him about it again, he said he went to the front office and they told him no. Which was very annoying seeing as I asked him to do something specific, not to just help himself, as announcement boards are for resident use only. I got over that. Then we started including a random persons bag in our order. Since we didn’t have the minimum for a drop off point they just added it to our order… It was really confusing at first, especially since I’m paying for an item to be delivered ($ 3 fee) and this other person is also paying this fee and I, as a paying customer, am doing the delivering. Does that make any sense at all? I think not. Exactly 2.5 months ago I cancelled any future orders via email. Matt didn’t accept this and made me log on to my account to cancel it. So I did that. Then the delivery guy came to drop off a bag after I had canceled it, so of course I refused the bag. Still, I was charged for it. Two weeks after that I sent Matt an email stating that he owed me a refund. To this day I haven’t received any response from him. Tomorrow morning I will be filling a dispute with my bank. So humbug! And now I just go to the farmers markets with my family and spend bonding time with them. I actually can get the produce that I WANT, instead of just whatever they pick. And btw I get wayyyy more produce for $ 20 then I ever got with Oahu fresh. Boom. Rant complete.

Really loving my Oahu Fresh orders!
It is $ 24 a week– let’s address the elephant in the room first– that is a lot of money for a weekly grocery bag. I’ve heard this from many people, including people who tried Oahu Fresh. However, in my opinion, it is a good value for the price.
One of the best parts is the weekly email newsletter with the items in your bag, the growers, an update and recipes! I have really loved trying new recipes to use all of the vegetables. (Let’s be honest– how many people have tried Daikon?!)
Each week you get some sort of greens bag– so you can always count on having weekly salads! Other things that have been in the bag include:
— mushrooms (button and portabella)
— squash (different kinds!)
— tomatoes (vine and baby)
— jalapeños
— corn
— cucumbers
— carrots
— lemongrass
— bananas
— starfruit
— clementines
— limes
… and much more!
At times there has been produce that has not been fully ripe or has been a little over ripe but this is par for the course when you are handling fresh produce, in my opinion. Remaining loyal to this company has paid off with more accessible produce, new meal ideas and nutrition for my whole family!
You can also elect to add specialty items to your bag– as a one time thing or weekly. I usually add eggs to my bag. The prices are similar to whole foods so I feel like the price is right. They also offer honey, coffee, meats, fish and even whole meal plans.
Oahu Fresh recently made our school a delivery location for friends and family. They even donate the delivery fee to our under-​funded school. It’s great to know that the organization is doing great things in our community as well as connecting people with local produce.

This is a great idea, and I really loved knowing about the farms that my food came from each week while I was subscribed. HOWEVER, it is very, very poor value for the price, and the food is not always in the best condition.
I paid about $ 25 a month. It was very nice to have the food delivered to our house each week. The amount of food you get for the money is very little for the price, meaning you could buy about 3x’s this amount of food from Safeway for the price… but I was happy to try new things each week and to feel good about doing something nice for the local farmers. Until things started to get really bad and they did not respond to my emails about my concerns.
For starters, I ordered an add-​on item in August that I never received. It shows up as delivered in my account, but I did not ever get it.
Some times you will get food that has already gone bad. That happened to me a couple of times, and I just let it slide without complaining, you know, to support local.
Last week, however, was the worst. The «stir fry vegetables» (they never tell you what these greens are) had bug pods on them. AND my cucumber was delivered as a half. Half. Meaning before they delivered it to me, they decided it was a good idea to cut it in half. Mind you, that is not only kind of cheap, but more importantly, it is unsanitary. Once the innards of a vegetable or fruit are exposed to the environment, any germs or nasty things from the outside can just get right up in there. So basically, the cucumber was not edible.
Both of these were deal breakers for us.
When you get a huge bag of herbs, are you going to inspect every single leaf? Because usually you don’t need to. Usually, the distributor has protocols for making sure that their product is bug-​free and sanitary. I have visited farms before, and they had a good enough product that you could pick the herbs off of the ground and taste them. They did not have parasites growing on their food because they kept it clean. If you are eating the stir fry veggies from Oahu Fresh, though, please look at every single little tiny leaf front and back before you toss it into your wok. If you don’t, there is a chance there are bugs on some of them (see picture). After seeing that, I wasn’t able to think about eating those again without being a little disgusted.
The worst part was that when I contacted him about it over the span of a week, I got NO response to my emails or phone calls. And I was very polite about it, by the way. So I’m not going to subscribe any more.
So there you go, folks: very few products for your buck, very poor quality (some is not sanitary or inedible), and very poor concern for whether you are satisfied as a customer.
It is a shame because I was really digging the concept and I was happy to be a part of it. The worst to me is that he never responded to my emails. I wish we could have worked something out. But just trust me on this one: inspect those stir fry veggies for bugs!

I signed up a few months ago and receive a bag every other week. So far everything has been fresh and it’s forcing me (the good kind of force) to get creative in the kitchen! Love supporting local farmers and eating local! They also have add-​on items like eggs, local coffee, fresh ahi and even additional groceries that you can have delivered along with your Oahu Fresh bag! These guys are like a one-​stop shop, give them a try!

Very convenient pick up (fresh café). Bag is perfect for my husband and I. Got all the std goods i need for a healthy meal and a couple surprise items. Love it.

I found Oahu Fresh a year ago and have been more then pleased with the fruits and veggies they provide. For example I got some orange baby/​cherry tomatoes in my bag one week. They were so amazing, I bought the same ones from Safeway, not as amazing. I ate them but each time I took a bite I kept thinking how good they were the week before from Oahu Fresh. I also received a round papaya the other week and once it ripened, OMG best papaya ever. I joked the round papaya but it was so tasty in the end. I have never been a real big squash eater but since I have joined Oahu Fresh, I look forward to receiving my butternut squash and also trying all the different vegetables and fruits they put into the bag each week. Some I really like and some not as much. Nice to have a variety to try. Without the huge cost of buying from the store. Once last comment, their beans whether it is the flat ones or the pole ones are so much better then the grocery stores as well. The really nice thing is you can cater your bag to when you want to receive and when your budget will allow. This week is a delivery week for me and I am so looking forward to it. KEEP UP THE GOOD WORK!!!

What a knock out of the park! Whammy!
We’ve been using Oahu Fresh for a couple months now and the weekly bag of fresh produce is great for 3 of us (30 yr old, young professionals, roommates). It’s a great way to supplement the grocery store, sometimes we don’t even go to the grocery store for produce! The bag drop off spots are convenient in town and we look forward to finding out what is coming each week.
The only issue I have is that we would like more watermelon radishes! Can never have enough!

Big fan of oahu fresh. I share it with my roommates and it’s perfect for one week. The veggies and fruit are fresh and delicious and come to the ProtoHUB on time each Wednesday.

I’ve been subscribing to a weekly bag from Oahu Fresh for a few months now, and am really happy with it. The produce is local and fresh. The variety is always fun, and we consistently are having terrific meals from stuff that comes in the bag. It’s cut down our shopping from 2x a week to now just once, so it pays for itself many times over in terms of convenience alone, let alone how terrific the veggies are. It always shows up when it’s supposed to, and on holidays and other weeks where the schedule changes, they let us know ahead of time so we know what to expect.

This is the first CSA I have ever ordered and I think they are fantastic.
The fruits and veggies are awesome, even in the face of oncoming hurricanes. They go out of their way to be sure I get my bag and have even gone as far as personally dropping it off the day after my scheduled delivery due to a communication error on my part.
Couldn’t be happier. I think everyone should subscribe!

This business scammed me, and I nearly had to involve the police.
My husband saw their delivery truck in our new neighborhood & talked to the driver. It was his understanding that we could get food delivered to our door like our neighbor does.
Well, when I went to sign up on their website, it wouldn’t allow me to put in my address. I had to check a box for a «drop off location» in my neighborhood, and I thought maybe it was our community center. Or I thought I could put in my address afterwards, but no. It took my PayPal info, but even after I set up an account & logged in, I could not put in my address. I then checked and found out the address was NOT for the community center or public place, it was someone’s home about a 20 minute walk from mine.
They would be leaving my bag of produce ON SOMEONE ELSE’S PORCH.
I thought surely this could be easily fixed, right? Wrong.
I left them several emails and voice messages about it for an entire week, and I was completely ignored. Until the night before my bag was being delivered, you know, to someone else’s house, and I got a generic form email about it.
At that point, I told them to refund me, since I would not be receiving my bag at all.
This was their reply:
«Sorry to hear you’re not happy. The delivery point you chose is a drop point, meaning we deliver the bag to that address and then you pick it up.
Aloha
Matt»
That’s Matt Johnson, the guy who runs this «company.» As you can see, he refused to offer any help whatsoever. He just told me to go pick up my bag.
I’m sorry, why would I pay to pick up my groceries from someone else’s house that I’ve never met? In what universe does that make any sense? Wouldn’t I just go to Whole Foods or the Farmer’s Market?
But what was I going to do? My bag was supposed to be there between 11 am and noon, so I walked over there with my 19 month old son, hoping it would somehow make sense when I got there. It did not. This was for sure someone’s house. I was not going to knock on their door & request half their order whenever it arrived. I sent this email:
«The address you gave me is SOMEONE’S HOME. I can send a picture of it if you like, because I just walked there. It’s a 20 minute walk from my house.
I am not going to hang out on someone else’s front porch to their house for an hour waiting on produce, are you serious? You owe me a refund, because you did not deliver anything to me that I ordered & refused to change the address.
That’s illegal. You cannot charge me for something I never got. I suggest you fix this.»
His response?
«Thanks for the feedback. We delivered your about an hour ago to the location that you signed up for. Hope you enjoy your veggies!
Aloha
Matt»
If any other company in the world sent what I paid for to the wrong address, or even if they didn’t but I did not receive it, they would either refund me or send it again. He never even offered to have my bag of veggies dropped off at my home, which is a very quick drive. Seriously right around the corner.
I replied:
«I did NOT give you that address! It’s someone else’s address. Your site wouldn’t let me put my address in. What part of that are you not understanding? You delivered my produce to someone else, and I want a refund. This is not legal.»
Of course I was ignored. So I said:
«I expect to be refunded for the product I did not receive by tomorrow, or I will be contacting the police about the scam this company is running.
It’s obvious that you just take money but don’t have any intentions of delivering products, and I have all the proof through these email exchanges. Proof that you refused to send my product to the right home & refused to refund me.»
The next day I did have a refund via PayPal, along with this condescending email:
«I went ahead and refunded you. We delivered your produce exactly where you signed up to have them delivered. You chose Catlin Park as your drop off point and you were told numerous times that that you need to pick up the bag. Next time, read more carefully what you’re signing up for.
Hope you have a good day!
Aloha
Matt»
No apology for the mistake, just a dig at me to «read more carefully» — my jaw fell to the floor! I have never in my life come across a business owner that is so rude. When I started working at age 16 I learned the customer is always right.
This guy either isn’t getting it because he’s extremely slow, or he just doesn’t give a damn. I replied one more time to say I thought their customer service was horrific & I would be sharing these emails here. His final words:
«I have been nothing but nice to you, even after you’ve threatened me and been slanderous about my company. I even went ahead and reimbursed you for produce that we delivered. We do not deserve this maliciousness. Please sure you add this email.
Aloha
Matt»
There you have it. He thinks he’s being «nice» by refunding me so I don’t involve the law. And how is it slander if it’s copy & paste?

I have been a big fan of CSA’s after having been a part of one in California for 8 years. I get a weekly delivery with excellent customer service from my CSA in California. I decided to get a subscription for my dad for his birthday. I went to their website (
) to «give a gift of Oahu Fresh.» It immediately took me to my paypal account without any sort of registration. The website was confusing and immediately debited my paypal account without any indication that the company would be contacting me about my order. How would they even know how to contact me since I was not given an option to leave an e-​mail address or phone number? I got a response and more information about the delivery service AFTER I had contacted them through the information on the website to find out what was going on. I discovered that delivery was not available in my parent’s area so I had to arrange for my mom to pick up the delivery. I e-​mailed them requesting what are the next steps that I needed to do for my mom to get the delivery. I promptly got a generic, form e-​mail thanking me for my inquiry and waited for a response. Over a week lapsed and I did not get a response. I e-​mailed them requesting my money back as two weeks had passed since my dad’s birthday. Once again, I got the form e-​mail. They did credit my paypal account but I would not recommend this service as their website is confusing and they are slow to respond to requests for information. Beware, especially if you are thinking about giving this as a gift.

Since joining Oahu Fresh’s CSA program, I have been introduced to a variety of delicious and unique produce locally grown in Hawaii. I love visiting the Farmer’s Market, but I rarely venture away from my safe staples. The beauty of a CSA subscription, however, aside from supporting local farmers, is the surprise of what your bag will hold each week! My family and I discovered long beans and shishito peppers through Oahu Fresh!
When researching which CSA program to select, I was pleasantly surprised by the user-​friendly website! It was quick and easy to sign up and the bags are charged automatically weekly or bi-​weekly (depending on your schedule). Their website (and corresponding social media sites) offer updates on what each week’s bag will include, recipes to use your produce with, and even Twitter updates when the van is running late! The recipes have proven to be a great resource! They not only provide new produce to experience, but suggestions on how to cook and eat it!
The locations for pick-​up are varied. I pick my bag up at Umeke Market downtown and it is far more convenient than going to the Farmer’s Market! I just run across the street, return last week’s bag, and walk back to my office with a bag full of goodies!

I get into food ruts pretty easily. I’m also sure I am not eating enough vegetables. Then I moved closer to KCC and had grand illusions of waking up early on Saturdays and walking a mile uphill to the market– yeah right. So I signed myself up for Oahu Fresh as a forcing function– if the vegetables showed up on my doorstep I would have to take them in and do something with them. So far it’s working. I got the once-​every-​two-​weeks option which is good for just one person (though I still occasionally have to give things away). They post recipes on their blog so I’m never at a loss for what to do. They also post what will be in the bag a couple of days ahead of time (I just yelled «yay squaaaash» in my living room). Since they pick the random goodness that goes into the bag, I never fall into a rut with what I eat.
(Minor) complaints:
–I have to go to the grocery way more often to find ingredients for all those tasty recipes
–Seriously, no one needs that much daikon
–Every now and then I get something that’s significantly overripe. I recently got a giant bunch of basil that had flowered making it very bitter and unusable.
–If you skip a week, you won’t get a bag the following week. They stick to the original schedule so that means 4 weeks between bags if you skip one.
–I seem to always miss the weeks where there’s pineapple
–I wish cheese was a one-​time add-​on option instead of with-​every-​delivery option

Week 2 of our CSA adventure. In this week’s bag which is $ 20 + home delivery charge + tax:
Large bunch of Swiss Chard (same as last week)
4 ears of corn
2 cucumbers
2 avocados (last week’s took about a week+ to ripen)
2 smallish tangerines
1 bag of onion chives from Nalo farms
1 small bag of lettuce
Did pretty good with last week’s haul and looks like this week’s will be relatively easy to use and eat as well. So far all produce has been good quality. Oahu Fresh gives a heads up (with suggestions and recipes) on their website a day before delivery which is very helpful so you can plan ahead or shop for any other ingredients you might need.
If you’re like us and only have bottled water and coffee creamer in the fridge, you will definitely need to do this if you’re going CSA from a cold start.

I’ve been trying various CSA’s and I’ve recently signed up for Oahu Fresh. They have a wonderful website where you can sign up and get local produce delivered directly to your door. I love this because I don’t have to go anywhere to pick it up, it comes to me! I think they mainly deliver to your residence if you live in town (which I do), however I think you can call if you live somewhere other than the town area to see if they’ll deliver. I signed up for the weekly delivery for $ 20.00. They also have a bi-​weekly option, too. There is an membership fee of $ 10 to help with purchasing of your reusable bag. They also charge between $ 2.50-$ 5.00 for home delivery depending on where you live.
Anyway, my weekly delivery’s are scheduled for Wednesdays, between 6:30 — 7:30pm. Yesterday was my first delivery and the guy came right at 7:00 pm. He explained that I hold on to the re-​usable bag that was given to me and return the empty bag at next week’s delivery.
The bag had two cucumbers, two lilikoi’s, a carton of Ho’s Farm cherry tomatoes (in a variety of colors), 2 round eggplant, a bag of lettuce, a bag of kale, and one avocado. The cucumbers weren’t totally firm and the bag of kale had a few brown leaves, but overall the quality of the produce was good. It was refrigerated because the produce was cold.
Overall, I’m happy with this service because it supports local farmers and it’s convenient!

Since I work a lot I don’t get to go to the Farmer’s Market too often. Therefore, I rely on Oahu Fresh for the vast majority of my fresh produce needs.
Without OF I might not ever eat veggies besides my staple spinach or mixed greens that I buy from Costco. I love that I have a variety of produce thats a surprise every time I open my bag.
I also love that they provide recipes for the bag’s contents so when I don’t know what to do with a pumpkin or with taro I’m supplied with tasty ideas to inspire me.
I think its a great value and have been getting my delivery for over 2 years.
Yay for Oahu Fresh!

Got my first bag this week and so far, so good. All the produce was in great shape — could tell it was still really fresh, no bruises or anything.
Only disappointment was that i wish there was more of everything. On the other hand, they do deliver right to my office, so it saves me some time shopping.
Overall, I love the concept of supporting local agriculture, and I did enjoy the contents of my bag, so I’m in.

Taking away one star here for 5 weeks of consistently bitter lettuce. Lettuce shouldn’t taste like that, especially not 5 weeks in a row. Boo.

I’m in love with Oahu Fresh after only a week.
[Before OF, I was a Ma’o CSA supporter, which would have been perfect if I were a leprechaun. Way.Too.Many.Greens. (Cooking Greens, Salad Greens, Spring Onions, Limes… Just check out their blog if you think I’m being foolish)]
Last week’s box from OF: hydroponic lettuce. tangelos. bananas. cherry tomatoes. mushrooms. mint. Yum.
–1 Star for the stinginess factor. I think for twenty dollars we could have had more than two tangelos in our bag, or maybe an extra head of lettuce instead of one. Or maybe I’m just greedy. After all, how rockin’ is it that we can get a local variety of produce all year round???
(Updates to follow in due time.)