August 30, 2016

Who knows Clover?

When I first started testing our menu at the MIT truck back in 2008 I was hoping Clover would become something important. I’m hoping we’re still in our infancy, because what I have in mind goes way beyond what we are today.

But I never ever thought I’d find fans recognizing Clover in the middle of nowhere.

I’m coming back from a month long vacation. I borrowed a Clover delivery van that we don’t use anymore, did a simple DIY-camper van fit-out, and drove with my family up Maine (where we checked in with one of our roasters, and seaweed suppliers), through New Brunswick, past our friends in Prince Edward Island who grow our potatoes, through Nova Scotia (where a street vendor back in 2001 gave me the original inspiration that led to Clover’s french fries), up to Newfoundland. On the northern short of Newfoundland we had pulled over at some fossil-like structures called Thrombolites. We were at a pullout and a young couple waved from their car, they might have even honked. I thought they were asking if the stop was fun.

But they rolled down their window and told me they were huge Clover fans. We grabbed a photo, the one of the left above. I think their names were Emily and Jamie. Thanks guys for recognizing us and saying hi!

After Newfoundland we took another ferry to Labrador, the “Big Land.” Labrador didn’t have roads 10 years ago, literally. Now there is one road. The entire land has 24,000 inhabitants.

And there, in the middle of nowhere, in the big land, we were passing a couple that shouted and waved. We met up at the next pullout and found another Clover fan. They were visiting Point Amour to look at some special fossils there. So here we found ourselves 1,400 miles and 3 ferry trips away from Boston, in the big land, in the middle of nowhere, and I was being asked if I have any sandwiches.

It feels so great not because I was always wishing to be famous or something. I’m not nuts about that. But because I know these folks LOVE what we do. And it feels so special to be a part of something that touches people that deeply. I feel so indebted to those working with me to build Clover. Kyori (sp?), the fan in Labrador, asked when we’d bring back the Japanese Sweetpotato. She wanted to talk about Clover. She showed us some of the fossils they were looking at. She was so excited to see us. And I was excited to see them.

Recent Posts

June 10, 2023
We’ve been playing around with getting one in-season veggie and threading it throughout the meal boxes for that week. Last week we had green garlic from Red Fire Farm so we decided to have a little Green Garlic Fest. If you had a box last week you may have seen green garlic in a bunch of different ways: roasted for tacos, sliced and baked as a pizza topping, and folded into pancake batter for pancake day. Just kidding – we have not yet broken our internal rule of  “sweet pancakes” – the pancakes had a green garlic hash alongside : ) Next up: Garlic Scapes. Have you ever had these?
June 7, 2023
For those of you who know, you are probably already clicking into this post to see exactly when you will need to get to Clover. For those who are new to Clover, the Nashville Hot Mushroom is a big deal. It’s an homage to the hot chicken at Prince’s in Nashville, which has its own dramatic origin story. Our version gives you a LITTLE relief from the spice with…
June 7, 2023
Joe (SCL, customer service rep, and our resident coffee fiend) just messaged me that the new Little Wolf coffee was blowing his mind. So I figured I would let all of you know too so you can try it! The coffee is called Laayoo – it’s named after a tree indigenous to the region of Ethiopia where it’s grown by smallholder farmers. Joe tasted notes of Earl Gray tea and funky/smoky/pu-erh tea. Little Wolf folks said it reminded them of rosè wine. So that makes me curious – what do you taste?
May 24, 2023
I recently learned that garlic has 4 stages that it goes through on its journey to become the cured stuff you’re probably used to seeing. This year I learned about Green Garlic. It’s the mild, sweet, un-cured bulb, plus the fresh green shoots. We got our hands on a super limited crop from Red Fire out in Granby, and so we decided to see if we could incorporate it into every single different type of box we make next week…
May 23, 2023
We’ve intentionally steered clear of bowls for a long time. If you see Ayr tomorrow, ask him why : ) Tomorrow (5/24) we’re starting a 2-week test of bowls at CloverNTV, our restaurant in Newtonville. If it goes well, this could represent the beginning of one of the bigger changes our menu has EVER seen. We’re hoping we’ve cracked the code to bowls that are seasonal, carefully-composed, easy to carry, and craveable – all the things we love about bowls, and none of the things we don’t.
May 18, 2023
I used to eat Cheesy Grits almost every morning, and if you were eating with us around 2017, I bet you did too. We took our Plimoth-ground-grits off the menu for a little while, but now they’re back at all locations (except for the HUB for the time being). Stop in for breakfast during the next 2 weeks – we’re aiming for these to be hot and ready at 8am and we’ll be selling them til they’re out. The staff has been waking up extra early and adding a lot of extra whisking to their mornings, so we’d love to hear what you think. If you’ve never had our Cheesy Grits before, here are some things you should know….
May 16, 2023
What is Chris eating? When we toured the field at Siena, the crew was planting dahlia tubers. They get planted in warm soil, will grow all summer and will be ready for harvest in the fall. They reminded us of sunchokes, so we got to talking about whether the tubers are edible and it turns out they are! Are they delicious?
May 15, 2023
Do you want a beautiful box of produce for a fraction of what you’d pay in the grocery store? Do you want to invest in a farm’s success and be with them throughout the harvest season? Do you think you hate eggplants but you’ve just never had a good one? It might be time to look into a CSA (or farmshare).
May 5, 2023
I remember exactly the moment we started celebrating May the 4th (“May the Force” be with you). We were on a planning call about meal boxes and we were talking about how we were going to launch our Taco Tuesday program on Cinco de Mayo (May the 5th). Chris accidentally said “May the 4th” and Ayr said, “May the 4th! We should do a Star Wars Box!”
April 24, 2023
If you’ve been reading for a while you probably know we hate waste. Most of the time, minimizing waste is pretty unglamorous, but every once in a while our mission to reduce waste takes us to some very cool places. I look after Clover’s grocery marketplaces (including our Assembly Row grocery store). A few months ago I noticed that the marketplaces were going through a lot of our paper bags. They’re compostable, which is great. But I think the best bag is one you can use over and over again.
April 22, 2023
Few people know that Clover is environmental activism. This is by design.  And it works. We do these customer surveys and see that 9 out of 10 Clover customers are NOT vegetarian. Yet I’m constantly troubled by conflicting feelings about the approach we’ve taken.
April 10, 2023
Over the next 3 weeks, on a rolling schedule, most Clovers are going to be giving out a free hot or cold George Howell Montecarlos coffee to anyone who stops in between opening and 11 am. No strings— we just want to see you all and talk about coffee!! George Howell’s Montecarlos is a single-origin coffee we love for our pour-overs…