????在另一邊海岸上舊金山的初創(chuàng)公司Gold Eggs內(nèi)，類似的高科技與食品快遞之間也擦出了火花,。那里的工程師花費(fèi)了超過18個(gè)月的時(shí)間來設(shè)計(jì)后臺(tái)軟件,，管理舊金山、布魯克林,、洛杉磯和新奧爾良的400家當(dāng)?shù)厣a(chǎn)商制造的食品的遞送,。從面包、雞蛋到酸奶,、牛排,，一應(yīng)俱全。

????Good Eggs并沒有采用批發(fā)食品,，把它們存在倉庫,，然后希望產(chǎn)品能夠賣出去的方式,，而是采用即時(shí)生產(chǎn)的清單模式。當(dāng)?shù)氐拿姘鼛熤缓婵井?dāng)日訂單中要求的面包量,，漁場(chǎng)也只捕捉確定要購買的那些魚,。這家公司獲得了投資者1,300萬美元的贊助。他們?yōu)楫?dāng)?shù)氐氖称分圃焐倘鏟rather Ranch Meat Co.設(shè)計(jì)了專門的網(wǎng)站,。

????每周二,，Prather Ranch的董事長(zhǎng)道格?斯通布雷克都會(huì)收到來自公司在加利福尼亞北部的牧場(chǎng)的新鮮豬肉和牛肉。在Good Eggs網(wǎng)站上,，他可以更新和管理存貨清單,，上傳產(chǎn)品圖片，設(shè)定價(jià)格,，觀察產(chǎn)品趨勢(shì)數(shù)據(jù),，比如什么商品賣得最好,。

????Good Eggs的內(nèi)部軟件會(huì)在每天下午分析當(dāng)日訂單,，確定次日的員工配置、快遞路線和產(chǎn)品需求,。軟件會(huì)給斯通布雷克這樣的制造商發(fā)送自動(dòng)生成的電子郵件,，通知他們顧客需要多少肉制品。

????次日上午,，斯通布雷克和其他食物生產(chǎn)商會(huì)打包這些商品,，把它們送到Good Eggs舊金山市中心的食品中轉(zhuǎn)站。在那里,，許多Good Eggs的員工會(huì)手持平板電腦核對(duì)貨物,，分門別類地把它們裝進(jìn)不同的溫控儲(chǔ)藏區(qū)。

????平板電腦的應(yīng)用會(huì)在四個(gè)小時(shí)之內(nèi)將訂單轉(zhuǎn)化為快遞,，而員工們會(huì)用紙袋和保溫桶為顧客包裝食物,。之后，這些員工會(huì)跳進(jìn)自己的汽車,，利用智能手機(jī)上的GPS導(dǎo)航軟件送貨,。抵達(dá)目的地之前，顧客會(huì)收到短信提示,。

????顧客在網(wǎng)上按下“購買”按鈕的36小時(shí)內(nèi)就能收到食物包裹,。加利福尼亞州索薩利托的退休抵押經(jīng)紀(jì)人朱迪?夏柏就是顧客之一。盡管夏柏對(duì)快遞費(fèi)用感到懊喪——有時(shí)高達(dá)8美元,，因?yàn)樗抑車念櫩洼^少——但她仍是這項(xiàng)快遞服務(wù)的狂熱粉絲,，因?yàn)樗龥]辦法經(jīng)常去逛農(nóng)貿(mào)市場(chǎng)。

????她說出了每位食品快遞服務(wù)經(jīng)理都渴望聽到的話：“我收到的菠菜是這輩子見過的最棒的,。太新鮮了,?！保ㄘ?cái)富中文網(wǎng)）

????譯者：嚴(yán)匡正

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????On the other coast, a similar high-tech twist on food delivery is playing out at the San Francisco startup Good Eggs. Engineers there spent more than 18 months developing the back-end software to manage the deliveries of everything from local bread and eggs to yogurt and steaks from 400 local producers in San Francisco, Brooklyn, Los Angeles, and New Orleans.

????Rather than buying food wholesale, stocking a warehouse, and hoping product will sell, Good Eggs uses just-in-time inventory, where local bakers only bake the amount of bread ordered that day or fisheries only pull the number of fish purchased. The company, backed by $13 million from investors, designed a separate website for local food producers like the Prather Ranch Meat Co.

????Each Tuesday, Prather Ranch chief executive Doug Stonebreaker receives new cuts of pork and beef from the company's northern California ranch. On his Good Eggs website, he updates and manages inventory, uploads product photos, sets prices, and views product trend data, like what's selling best.

????Each afternoon, internal software at Good Eggs analyzes the day's orders to determine next-day staffing, delivery routes, and product needed. It sends an automated e-mail to producers like Stonebreaker, telling him which cuts of meat customers ordered.

????The next morning, Stonebreaker and other food providers pack up their pre-sold goods and drive to Good Eggs' downtown San Francisco food hub. There, a dozen Good Eggs workers wait with tablet computers in hand to check in and sort food in various temperature-controlled storage areas.

????Tablet applications help organize orders into waves of deliveries that go out in four-hour windows, as workers pack food in paper bags and cold sleeves for each customer. Those same employees then jump in their personal vehicles and use GPS routing software on their smartphones to make drop-offs. Before an order arrives, a customer receives a text message alert.

????Within 36 hours of clicking the "buy" button online, customers like Judy Shaper, a retired mortgage broker in Sausalito, Calif., receive a bag of food. Although Shaper is frustrated by the delivery fee -- which at times has hit $8, because there are not yet enough customers in her neighborhood -- she is a big fan of the delivery service since she can't always get to the farmer's market.

????"The spinach I've gotten is the best I've had in my life," she says, uttering the words that every food delivery service executive is dying to hear. "It's so fresh."

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