gatheredtable combines technology and food, saving you time!

Whole Foods San Mateo recently announced a new partnership pilot program with a company called gatheredtable. We were instantly intrigued, then smitten. The concept is a perfect match for busy San Mateo/Peninsula and Silicon Valley homeowners and residents who identify themselves as foodies, yet have a strong interest in gardening, cooking or entertaining. With gatheredtable, you’ll receive customized weekly menus and intelligent grocery lists with fresh, local groceries pre-packed especially for you by your local Whole Foods Market San Mateo. By integrating a custom weekly menu plan fit to your needs with local grocery shopping and pre-packed pick-up, the program aims to save you time, money, and stress. Aileen Ottenweller, brand communications coordinator at gatheredtable, took some time to chat with us about this exciting new service and much more:

Q: How did you find yourself at gatheredtable?

I’ve always been attracted to socially-minded businesses. Any company, start-up or not, that integrates and promotes an authentic, socially-minded mission as a part of it’s core business model is worth exploring. gatheredtable immediately caught my eye as not just a company solving the “time and money” challenge most households face when it comes to dinner but that also addresses the deeply emotional space of food and togetherness.

Q: gatheredtable seems an ideal fit for those of us in Silicon Valley/SF Bay Area that have a love of garden to table cooking, yet find ourselves pressed for time to dream up the right recipes and prepare the meal on a regular basis. What have members reported in terms of lifestyle changes?

Looking on a national scale, even as we become more aware of the foods we eat and where they’re coming from, there seems to be a growing dichotomy between our aspiration to cook regularly (within the boundaries of the garden to table life we want) and the reality that our time is consistently becoming more and more precious. Our users have noted a timesaving’s of about 2 hours a week, with almost everyone (96%) stating gatheredtable reduced their stress by an average of 55%. Our users have also told us that gatheredtable has helped reduce their food waste by over 70%. Other features of gatheredtable that users really enjoy included our kitchen-tested, seasonal and delicious recipe recommendations that meet their time and preference requirements, the ability to browse other user’s recipe libraries for more recipe inspiration, and our easy-to-use grocery list that remembers ingredients you need to pick-up from the store vs things you’ve indicated you typically have on hand.

family dinner prep

Q: You are in the process of launching a pilot program at our neighbor, Whole Foods San Mateo. Tell us a little more about what this entails, and how Bay Meadows residents and the San Mateo community might join:

The Whole Foods Market San Mateo and gatheredtable.com program is an opportunity for you to bring back the fun, ease and satisfaction of cooking fresh, seasonal and delicious meals to your household! You’ll receive customized weekly menus and intelligent grocery lists from gatheredtable with fresh, local groceries pre-packed especially for you by your local Whole Foods Market San Mateo! By integrating a custom weekly menu plan fit to your needs with local grocery shopping and pre-packed pick-up, the program aims to save you time, money, and stress. You must register for gatheredtable to participate. To sign up, please email  aileen@gatheredtable.com.  Learn more on the Facebook page.

Q: Where are the recipes sourced from at gatheredtable, and are you seeing any “foodie trends” in terms of popular recipes?

We have a curated library of recipes that we recommend to our users, all of which are tested in-house. We focus on highly delicious, seasonal and healthy recipes and rewrite each one to ensure they are as easy to follow, as they are delicious. Each user sets preferences and goals for their household during sign-up, which means we have a variety of recipes for every customized menu, including paleo, vegan, vegetarian, pesctarian, omnivore, as well as options for other dietary needs and avoidances. Users really enjoy the recommended recipes we suggest for them, stating it gives them just the right amount of adventure and “newness” in their weekly cooking routine.

root vegetables

My grocery list would include these 4 items:  beets, kale, local cheese and smoked salmon
Current Obsession: any one of our Culinary Manager Victoria’s test recipes
My gatheredtable Dinner Party Menu would include: I love tapas!! Great sourdough bread with different olive oils, hummus, cheese and jams. For more sustained eating: roasted beet salad with goat cheese and roasted almonds, Mary’s divine salmon recipe, and the most delicious paleo chocolate pecan pie you’ll ever taste (you can find these in my gatheredtable library).
The celebrity I’d enjoy most at my gatheredtable: Alice Waters. Alice is truly a pioneer for all things related to locally-sourced food and farms. Edible Schoolyards is a partner of ours and we truly admire their work.
The time I save with gatheredtable is spent: training for bike races (up next is Levi’s Gran Fondo in Santa Rosa) and feeling better about what I eat.

*image credit: gatheredtable

As we develop community, we want to see how you live or play at Bay Meadows. Share your fun lifestyle photos with our community by using #baymeadowslife in our Fame x Frame Photo Contest. You could WIN $50 or our Grand Prize of $500 at the end of 2014 and be featured in a live pop-up photo gallery exhibit. Click here for official rules. Each month, Bay Meadows will select one photo to WIN a $50 gift card at Whole Foods Market San Mateo. Simply hop on instagram or twitter at tag us using #baymeadowslife or submit up to 10 photos per month to photos@BayMeadows.com.

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