SUN BASKET
“ We like to think of ourselves as the Whole Foods of the meal kit industry ; we ’ re offering a more specialized , higher-end and highquality service ”
— Mike Wargocki , VP , Manufacturing , Sun Basket
132 received , his team can monitor the entire journey of a piece of produce from the supplier to Sun Basket ’ s loading dock .
“ When that product arrives , I have access to a complete readout of the temperature of that product over the course of its entire journey . I can see if a product that ’ s supposed to be held at 38 degrees was held for an hour at , say , 55 degrees , and be able to know therefore that it isn ’ t going to hold up ,” he explains . “ We use that information in addition to our quality inspection process to sort through our produce and ensure we ’ re only using products that live up to our customers ’ standards .”
When the finished meal kits leave Sun Basket ’ s facility , ice packing plays an important role . “ We also try to be smart with how we pack out our products in terms of ice , insulation and box size , taking into account the length of the journey and the temperatures at the destination ,” Thompson says . “ If you ’ re sending a box to Phoenix , Arizona , where it ’ s 95 degrees outside , you ’ re going to need a very different packout solution compared to , say , Chicago in the wintertime .” Using a sophisticated algorithm , Sun Basket ’ s fulfilment team can account for travel time , environmental conditions and the contents of each individual box .
FEBRUARY 2021