North Jersey Commuting Service Transforms Into Food Provider

MADISON, NJ - There are a lot of frustrating things about quarantine, from boredom to homeschooling to getting groceries. But the Boxcar company is trying to alleviate some of the pressure of getting essentials.

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"The idea came from me talking with my friend who is in the restaurant supply business, at Gargiulo Produce. A lot of his clients shut down and weren't receiving their produce deliveries. At the same time my wife and I couldn't get a spot on Peapod/Amazon Fresh so I thought why not find a way to get the produce that isn't being delivered to restaurants directly into the hands of consumers?" Boxcar CEO Joe Colangelo told Patch. "We've since begun picking up 30-100 boxes of produce every day from Gargiulo Produce and have delivered to Cranford, Westfield, Scotch Plains, Clark, Summit, Chatham, and Madison with a focus on different towns each day."

But they also opened up a drive-thru contactless pickup in Madison.

"We've determined we will be doing it once a week until the crisis has passed," Colangelo said.

To utilize that service, customers place their orders in advance through the website and enter their license plate at checkout so that when they pull up, employees verify their license plate and place the order directly in their trunk. Colangelo said they did 100 cars and nobody even had to get out of their vehicle.

"The way we're able to make this cheap and fast is that we don't offer selection. Right now it's just the following items and there is no choosing what you get or don't get," he said.

A "Boxcar Basics" Box, at $57.99, includes:

1 dozen eggs
1 gallon milk (whole)
3 Romaine Hearts
5 lbs Tomatoes
5 lbs Potatoes
2 Onions
2 Pints Blueberries
6 Apples
6 Oranges
1 Cantaloupe
2 Avocado
6 Bananas
1 pound bell peppers

"We were able to partner so quickly with Madison because we've been a trusted partner of theirs for the past three years," Colangelo said. "When the 'Summer of Hell' cut off access to Penn Station for M&E riders, we launched a bus service which served their residents well."

Colangelo noted that when they were looking for a digital vendor to manage their commuter parking payments, Boxcar won the RFP and over the last year has fulfilled all the pledges that outlined in the bidding process.

"So when I came to Madison's mayor, Bob Conley, with this 'out there' idea there was a level of trust that we would do a great job with customer service and operations and a high level of pre-established trust between us both," Colangelo said.

Colangelo said Boxcar's main business lines are down 100 percent with nobody commuting, that means zero parking and no Boxcar buses running to NYC. Boxcar's software usually connects people renting out their parking directly to commuters, but at a high level it allows us to create marketplaces between buyers and sellers very easily, he noted.

"On top of that, our suburban focus means we have a dense customer base built in to many suburbs of NYC," Colangelo said. "Usually that customer base needs commuter parking and transportation to NYC, but right now they need food and to avoid entering public places whenever possible."

While he hopes things get back to normal soon, Colangelo said that Boxcar just had their highest-grossing day ever recently and moved three tons of produce from a broken supply chain into consumers hands safely.

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