Skip to main content

Find Artisanal Ingredients at Hatchery

Hatchery subscription service box
Do you ever find that during your travels you come across amazing ingredients that you wouldn’t find otherwise? Traveling is a great way to expand your culinary arsenal—but it takes a lot of time, money, and effort. Max Friedman felt the same way and decided to make it a little bit easier for the rest of us by founding hatchery.co, a subscription service that brings fresh local ingredients from around the country right to your door.

The premise is simple: each month, subscribers receive a curated box containing anything from Harissa from Whole Spice to Southern Art’s Korean BBQ sauce to Diane’s Sweet Heat Habanero Jam—products from around the country that take the hassle out of culinary discovery. Subscribers can also buy ingredients individually and check out recipes.

Related Videos

The Manual caught up with Friedman to ask him about Hatchery, how he finds his products, and why we should subscribe to it.

How did you come up with the idea for Hatchery?

I’ve always traveled a lot and every trip I went on I would discover so many great flavors along the way. But most of those products were only available in local areas and when I would come home I always thought to myself, “Wouldn’t it be great if I could get these products without my annual cross country road trip?” Fortunately, when I reached out to some of my favorite makers, I learned that they felt the same way. They had customers from across the country who would sometimes travel hundreds of miles just to purchase their products. The idea of connecting to their customers online made sense to them, but they didn’t have the means to do so.

Why do you think that there’s a need for a subscription service like this?

There are so many wonderful and unique local products across the United States but distribution is such a major roadblock for most small-batch food makers. Our monthly Tasting Box lets thousands of people across the country taste-test products they’d otherwise never experience on their own, and gives our makers access to a national audience they wouldn’t have otherwise. Plus, with our Marketplace, it’s easy to purchase full-size items of the products you tried and loved most.

Where do you look for your products?

We actually have a team that travels the country visiting green markets, family farms, and specialty stores in search of talented makers that want to share their story with others around the country. Our team taste-tests every single item to ensure it’s truly unique and delicious before sharing with our members.

What are some of your favorite discoveries?

This is a tough question for me to answer because my pantry is now filled with Hatchery products. But at the moment, I’m really hooked on this dark chocolate rosemary peanut butter from Brooklyn-based maker, Better Off Spread. When we sampled it in March people loved it, it went viral across Instagram and sold out overnight.

Who is Hatchery’s ideal customer?

Our ideal customer is the foodie who enjoys discovering new and exciting tastes and is passionate about supporting local small-batch makers.

What are you planning next?

We have exciting things [planned] for makers and for consumers.

Makers will be able to use Hatchery as a platform to analyze what samples are doing well and get strong feedback. We also are working on video series that showcases a behind-the-scenes look at each of our makers. I can’t share too much now but there are some very exciting things in the works [for consumers], including leveraging some of our awesome tastemakers.

For more information, visit hatchery.co.

Editors' Recommendations

These foods high in melatonin will help you sleep better
Get a better sleep naturally by eating these 9 melatonin foods
Hands holding wine grapes.

Getting a quality night's sleep becomes more and more of a challenge as we age. Some of us have tried blackout curtains, sleep masks, weighted blankets, or any number of supplements promising better rest. If you're looking for an all-natural solution, though, melatonin is the way to go. Melatonin is a hormone produced naturally in the pineal gland in the brain. Among several functions, melatonin plays a key role in regulating the body’s circadian rhythms, or sleep-wake cycles. Accordingly, the pineal gland produces more melatonin when the sun goes down, and levels dip at daybreak. Foods high in melatonin or even melatonin supplements are a popular way to increase the concentration of melatonin and possibly improve the quality and quantity of sleep.
Melatonin supplements are typically non-habit-forming and safe for adults and children in doses of around 0.5 to 5 milligrams. However, melatonin supplements may cause drowsiness, nausea, and dizziness, and they can interfere with certain medications.

Fortunately, if you’re looking to support your body’s own natural melatonin levels but you don’t want to rely on supplements, there are several sleep-aid foods that contain melatonin. Adding any of these foods high in melatonin to your dinner plate or bedtime snack routine may help regulate your sleep patterns over time and help you get more restful sleep. Though little nutritional data exists about the specific concentration of melatonin in different foods, the following foods are known to be particularly high in melatonin.

Read more
The 8 best protein shakes that are ready-to-go
These shakes come with all the good stuff, and none of the crap
Svelte

With as busy as we have become as a society, we always seem to be on the go. This can make life challenging, especially when it comes to wellness goals. In a perfect world, you could hit the gym hard, crush a workout, then immediately refuel with a balanced, home-cooked meal. But, since life happens and we are always on the go, it’s not always feasible to take the time to actually cook up a muscle-building meal right after your workout. Whether you’re on the go and short on time, or just can't stomach a full meal after exercising, having a quick and easy, protein-packed option that doesn’t require kitchen time, is a helpful alternative to refuel your body and maximize your results.

This is where protein shakes come in handy. Numerous ready-to-drink shakes are available that provide muscle-building protein, vitamins, minerals, and calories to fortify your body after a workout. They offer the benefits of protein powders with the convenience of eliminating the need for a shaker bottle, or high-speed blender, let alone making a mess with powders. Simply give the bottle a quick shake, pop the top, and you’re good to go.

Read more
This is the major change coming to Toblerone chocolate
Stripped of its "Swissness," Toblerone is getting a new look
toblerone chocolates new packaging

Toblerone, the nougaty, triangular chocolate bar we all know and love, will be getting a modern makeover later this year. US owner of the popular candy bar company, Mondelez International, has decided to relocate some of Toblerone's production a few countries over to Slovakia, stripping the chocolate of its "Swissness."
Under Swiss law, established in 2017, a product that's advertised with marks such as the Swiss flag, any references to Swiss cities, or, in the case of Toblerone, the Matterhorn mountain, must meet very strict origin criteria. The Swiss powers that be established this law to protect the prestige and reputation of genuine, high-quality Swiss-made products, including, of course, its chocolate.

While much of Toblerone's production will remain in Switzerland — even amping up by the end of the year — the strict laws dictate that it can't be considered a Swiss product anymore unless manufactured there exclusively.
Because the candy will now be partially produced elsewhere, it will no longer be allowed to advertise with any "Swissness," including the iconic Matterhorn logo. The label will also shift from reading “Swiss chocolate” to “Established in Switzerland in 1908” instead.
Reportedly, the hidden bear in the current mountainscape design will remain, but no word yet as to how prevalent it will be.
In a statement reported by CNBC, Mondelez International says that the Toblerone new logo will have a “modernized and streamlined mountain logo that is consistent with the geometric and triangular aesthetic.”
We think we speak for most when we say we couldn't care less what the box looks like. Just make sure it tastes the same.

Read more