Dear Grocery Store Owners,
I am writing this open letter as a concerned and disappointed customer who values the convenience and quality your stores have historically provided. However, I have recently noticed a growing issue with the quality of your “ready-to-eat” cut fruit offerings. I feel compelled to express my dissatisfaction and to respectfully request that immediate steps be taken to rectify this situation.
It is disheartening to see that the cut fruit being sold is often unripe and of inferior quality. I understand that providing quality produce can be challenging, but selling unripe fruit as “ready-to-eat” is both dishonest and disrespectful to your customers.
Many of us purchase these items for special occasions such as Shabbos, simchas, or simply as a convenient snack on the go. When the fruit is inedible, it not only ruins the experience but also wastes our hard-earned money. I believe that as business owners, you have a responsibility to ensure that the products you sell are of the highest quality and are accurately represented.
In the spirit of improvement and maintaining customer trust, I have compiled a list of suggestions for your consideration:
– Implement stricter quality control measures for selecting and cutting fruits
– Train employees on how to properly identify ripe fruits for preparation
Clearly label and display the freshness of the cut fruit, along with the date it was prepared
– Offer a satisfaction guarantee for ready-to-eat fruit products, allowing for refunds or exchanges if the quality is unsatisfactory
– Source from local and/or reputable suppliers who prioritize fruit quality and ripeness
– Regularly review and assess fruit suppliers to ensure their products consistently meet your store’s standards
– Consider offering seasonal fruit selections that are more likely to be ripe and of higher quality
– Communicate openly with customers about your commitment to improving the quality of ready-to-eat fruit products
I truly believe that by addressing this issue, you can maintain the trust and loyalty of your customers. We appreciate the convenience and variety that your stores offer, and we want to continue supporting local businesses like yours.
I hope that you will take these suggestions to heart and work towards restoring the quality of the “ready-to-eat” fruit selections. Thank you for your attention to this matter, and I look forward to experiencing improvements in your stores soon.
Sincerely,
A Concerned Customer
TLS welcomes your letters by submitting them to [email protected]
Ok ok ok!!!
Very well said. Because of this issue I stopped buying cut fruit. Many times we bought it for shabbos and when it turns out to be no good you end up with no fruit for shabbos. And nothing you can do about it anymore. So it’s definitely dishonest on the stores part. But I don’t expect this letter to change anything because unfortunately there’s only one language these businessmen understand. So the best thing to do is to stop buying it
Really not fair, and in my opinion its outright slander, to call these stores Dishonest.
There are many different tastes and particulars.
The store made no claims in regard to the specific “palatability” of their fruit.
Once upon a time consumers were held responsible for their choices as well.
The stores simply took the hassle out of preparing fruit.
They never said “our fruit is specifically chosen…”
If you dont like it, dont buy it.
If you think they are selling something specific, THEN VERIFY.
But dont call someone dishonest because of YOUR OWN SENSE OF ENTITELMENT.
Midnight, you must have been sleeping through ethics class. Do you think for one moment if a consumer knew the fruit wasn’t ripe they would buy it? This is not just dishonest, its straight up theft.. Selling something to someone under false pretenses is straight out fraud, and for you to even think that there is no claim to palatability suggests that you are probably keen on taking advanage of uninformed people.. When you buy fresh fruit you get to assess if its ripe. you can even buy something that is not ripe yet because you want it to be ready in a few days, but cut-up fruit that is unripe is by definition dishonest, and likely theft.
While I completely identify with you as it’s super frustrating as a consumer to purchase a product which is unedible for a premium price, you don’t have to buy it.
I once visited Los Angeles and there was a company seeking fruit where a selection of each fruit is tested and tasted before sending out, and they are delicious.
With all the Lakewood Entrepreneurs perhaps best would be to open a cut fruit service and develop a brand based on always fresh and delicious fruit.
The supermarkets can decide from there what they would like to do. Free market…
It’s still dishonest for the store. But I agree with you. The consumer has the the final say
Buy whole fruits and cut it yourself. Save some money.
The point wasn’t to give mussar as to how one should spend their money. It’s about spending money on something – anything – that is presented dishonestly and causes one to waste money (and bal tashchis) on whatever was purchased. And then you also don’t have what you thought you did to serve. Could be anything. Like salads and Dips and lots of other things that stay on the shelves too long and they say it’s “fresh” Just imagine it was an item YOU purchase regularly.
ALSO, frum.supermarkets cannot just do whatever they want. There are many halachos involved in selling products that are not as they should be. I’ve also had spoiled cottage cheese and such things because the deliveries weren’t refrigerated in a timely manner…Everyone is trying to make a buck in this economic climate but doesn’t mean can do whatever they want.
Agreed!!! Big issue!
I’ve had this problem many times including this past shabbos.
Thank you for bringing awareness.
I have this problem, but it is not the store’s fault. Watermelon, cantaloupe and honeydew are really not winter fruits. They are sold all winter, but they are hard and not tasty. Since there is a demand for it, the stores cut them up into fruit platters. I know not to buy them, because the quality of the melons is “unripe”. Even at weddings, etc, where they have it on the smorg, it is not really ripe at all. The various melons are actually summer fruit and taste delicious from Shavuous and on.
While dishonest business is abhorrent and will only result in sorrow for those who engage in it, you the letter writer should be full of gratitude that this is your nisayon! (You could purchase and slice your own fruits)
most melons have to ripen a few days before being cut up, that is why the fruit platters are unripe. If rhe stores that sell platters set aside fruit to ripen for platters, it would solve the problem.3
While I agree with the letter written especially having received a fruit platter with the fruit barely edible , I have a whole host of complaints on the grocery stores
No prices posted anywhere many times
Prices double and triple Monsey and Brooklyn
And many times I overpay on food that I find is over a year old !!
It’s called a “fruit board”. The fruits are artisanally aged and cured. The more dried up the better.
It’s the winter time if you want fresh and ripe fruit wait a few months.
Most of these fruits are coming from S. America.
I don’t and I know a lot of people who will not buy this stuff in the winter
Wow.
What a perspective. Ppl are nebech broke; we have 2,000 families on Tomchei Shabbos that can’t afford a Chol HaMoed trip or chocolate for their kids and ur concern is about the cut up fruit platters.
Amazing.
Bit of a stupid comment. Just because people are receiving money from Tomchei Shabbos, doesn’t mean that someone who works very hard and has just a little bit extra money to splurge on cut up fruit can’t be upset when it’s trash.
I have the opposite problem with cut up watermelon.
When I open the package Erev Shabbos afternoon, many of the slices are already spoiled.
Stopped buying.
Agree
Wow, you just threw one of the biggest cut fruit suppliers under the bus without even doing basic research. Many of the stores in town are supplied by him. Is a personal friend of mine. If you would know how difficult this job is you would never have written this letter. Did it occur to you that it is March right now? Most of the fruits available is flown in from out of the country or California. It’s actually VERY difficult for the supplier and costly in terms of what he has to throw out to provide a decent product this time of year. I think he does a great job and I buy cut fruit almost every day on the go. Not every store has the clientele who can afford cut so imagine the amount of fruit that has to be thrown out and mark them drastically. Before you write think of the other person and their challenges
I really can’t believe people actually took this serious!! Is no one else making Pesach that they have time to troll about things like this?!