5 ms·

> we learned that it’s illegal to use home kitchen for commercially sold food aka "we didn't do any research at all" > we were inspired by Uber and Airbnb to

> we learned that it’s illegal to use home kitchen for commercially sold food aka "we didn't do any research at all" > we were inspired by Uber and Airbnb to just ignore the regulators. Those pesky food safety regulations. These guys were extremely negligent and should be glad they got out before anybody got sick.

wycs 8y ago
Yes. Keeping food in a fridge for 48 hours. What a crime.
- deleted_account 8y ago
  Take a look at one of their hubs: https://imgur.com/a/PQJB09X https://imgur.com/a/PQJB09X. Maybe around 300+ meals stuffed in there? Back-of-the-enveloping the amount of time people are opening and closing those doors, I'm a little dubious they're staying at refrigerator temperature the whole time. I'm not surprised someone looked at this and thought, "That's an e. coli outbreak waiting to happen."
  - jjeaff 8y ago
    If a supermarket freezer can keep things frozen while being opened and closed all day long, I can't see why this wouldn't be able to keep up. It might not be rated high enough, but you can't tell from this picture.
  - wycs 8y ago
    The more full the refrigerator the longer it will maintain temperature.
    - noodle 8y ago
      That's only true assuming there's enough time for the contents to reach the target temperature.
    - deleted_account 8y ago
      I wouldn't cling to the narrative that it was those bureaucrats and their food safety regulations that killed Chowdy. Long listed three reasons they failed before he got to, "the Toronto health department did not approve of our distribution model."
  - Kagerjay 8y ago
    That refrigerator isn't even designed to hold food, it's supposed to be for beverages Units with stainless doors and /or heavy duty glass frame construction have higher HP rating on the compressor with better insulation.
    - jjeaff 8y ago
      Are you making 5hat assessment simply because of the glass doors? Because grocers use glass door freezers that are opened and closed all day long and it doesn't seem to be a problem.
      - Kagerjay 8y ago
        No I am not making a 5hat assessment, I have worked in this industry and visited the production floor at the largest refrigeration factory in USA Most reputable manufacturers have a logo at the topleft corner of the unit. Many offbrand Chinese manufacturers don't have a visible logo here. Most front of the house refrigerators were designed to be (1) cheaper and therefore lesser quality components, (2) less insulation and therefore more packing. Because it was designed to hold drinks. You can tell this, namely in that it has a sliding door mechanism, which is standard across these units. Heavy duty glass kitchen refrigerators are always hinge based, namely because you need to load / unload quickly and have extra space accomodation What you see in the grocery store is a whole different level. Whereas most standalone glassdoor units like this are self-contained refrigeration, the ones at the grocery store are generally remote-based compressors. They operate at a much higher efficiency, HP rating, and run at a higher voltage.
  - slededit 8y ago
    Could have been solved with temperature logging, then they would have a paper trail they could show to the regulators. Of course that paper trail may well show deficiencies but they could fix that. An employee would have to visit daily along with remote data logging. I think their hub model is pretty sound provided you can satisfy the regulators.
- Kagerjay 8y ago
  There's a lot of food safety issues they ignored though - 3rd party hubs means you get a wide range of manufacturers for refrigerated. Not all are rated equally. Sometimes the compressor goes bad, or insulation gaskets need to be replaced - Food rotation. Because there is no staff at each location, there's a higher chance that you'll find meals 1+ weeks old. Its up to the consumer to see the date stamped - If you rotate food often, unit will not be up to temperature (34-38*F) generally. - If you don't have a designated employee at site to move food into refrigerator, it might spoil before it gets there. This deals with logistics - Using 3rd party has a huge oversight in potentially tampering with food + legal implications. - Inspections / legal is complicated
  - qnsi 8y ago
    1: what if they were providing refrigerators? 2: This is daily delivery, so just have a driver remove all day-old food and bring new food 4: what if driver is responsible for that?
    - Kagerjay 8y ago
      1,2,4 - These are all good points, I could not say either way. I would have to see more pictures of Chowdy's operations to know

wycs 8y ago

Yes. Keeping food in a fridge for 48 hours. What a crime.

deleted_account 8y ago
Take a look at one of their hubs: https://imgur.com/a/PQJB09X https://imgur.com/a/PQJB09X. Maybe around 300+ meals stuffed in there? Back-of-the-enveloping the amount of time people are opening and closing those doors, I'm a little dubious they're staying at refrigerator temperature the whole time. I'm not surprised someone looked at this and thought, "That's an e. coli outbreak waiting to happen."
- jjeaff 8y ago
  If a supermarket freezer can keep things frozen while being opened and closed all day long, I can't see why this wouldn't be able to keep up. It might not be rated high enough, but you can't tell from this picture.
- wycs 8y ago
  The more full the refrigerator the longer it will maintain temperature.
  - noodle 8y ago
    That's only true assuming there's enough time for the contents to reach the target temperature.
  - deleted_account 8y ago
    I wouldn't cling to the narrative that it was those bureaucrats and their food safety regulations that killed Chowdy. Long listed three reasons they failed before he got to, "the Toronto health department did not approve of our distribution model."
- Kagerjay 8y ago
  That refrigerator isn't even designed to hold food, it's supposed to be for beverages Units with stainless doors and /or heavy duty glass frame construction have higher HP rating on the compressor with better insulation.
  - jjeaff 8y ago
    Are you making 5hat assessment simply because of the glass doors? Because grocers use glass door freezers that are opened and closed all day long and it doesn't seem to be a problem.
    - Kagerjay 8y ago
      No I am not making a 5hat assessment, I have worked in this industry and visited the production floor at the largest refrigeration factory in USA Most reputable manufacturers have a logo at the topleft corner of the unit. Many offbrand Chinese manufacturers don't have a visible logo here. Most front of the house refrigerators were designed to be (1) cheaper and therefore lesser quality components, (2) less insulation and therefore more packing. Because it was designed to hold drinks. You can tell this, namely in that it has a sliding door mechanism, which is standard across these units. Heavy duty glass kitchen refrigerators are always hinge based, namely because you need to load / unload quickly and have extra space accomodation What you see in the grocery store is a whole different level. Whereas most standalone glassdoor units like this are self-contained refrigeration, the ones at the grocery store are generally remote-based compressors. They operate at a much higher efficiency, HP rating, and run at a higher voltage.
- slededit 8y ago
  Could have been solved with temperature logging, then they would have a paper trail they could show to the regulators. Of course that paper trail may well show deficiencies but they could fix that. An employee would have to visit daily along with remote data logging. I think their hub model is pretty sound provided you can satisfy the regulators.
Kagerjay 8y ago
There's a lot of food safety issues they ignored though - 3rd party hubs means you get a wide range of manufacturers for refrigerated. Not all are rated equally. Sometimes the compressor goes bad, or insulation gaskets need to be replaced - Food rotation. Because there is no staff at each location, there's a higher chance that you'll find meals 1+ weeks old. Its up to the consumer to see the date stamped - If you rotate food often, unit will not be up to temperature (34-38*F) generally. - If you don't have a designated employee at site to move food into refrigerator, it might spoil before it gets there. This deals with logistics - Using 3rd party has a huge oversight in potentially tampering with food + legal implications. - Inspections / legal is complicated
- qnsi 8y ago
  1: what if they were providing refrigerators? 2: This is daily delivery, so just have a driver remove all day-old food and bring new food 4: what if driver is responsible for that?
  - Kagerjay 8y ago
    1,2,4 - These are all good points, I could not say either way. I would have to see more pictures of Chowdy's operations to know