Photo courtesy of Raqibah Basir
Last July, some residents had complained about the quality of the food they were receiving from the City’s Get Food NYC program. One of the residents was Suzanne Tureck from Norwood who, at the time, had various complaints, particularly with regard to fresh food produce. She said the quality was suboptimal, sometimes the food was gone off, or the food delivered was of a type that she didn’t eat, even when she had specified in her order that she didn’t eat certain types of food.
“I was receiving a box of food every three days,” said Tureck at the time. “The food was not good-good, but it was acceptable, right? And then the food just went progressively downhill, really bad, very bad. I’ve had so many problems – everything is documented. I called 311 so many times with complaints from spoiled food. I wanted vegetarian. I kept receiving meat. Three times, a Lyft, the driver left the food at the main door and didn’t ring my bell, or knock on my door.”
Photo courtesy of Raqibah Basir
Tureck went on to say that on July 3, she was supposed to receive another food box but nothing arrived. “I received the text that they were on their way, and the box never came,” she said. “So, I cancelled, and then it just never ends. The food is just so bad.”
Norwood News reached out at the time to the City’s Department of Sanitation (DSNY) which oversees the Get Food NYC program. The department duly responded and apologized for any poor quality food received by residents, insisting that food provided to New Yorkers had to be of a high quality, and said the City had imposed very strict nutritional requirements on its vendors in this regard.
A City official assured us he would follow up with the impacted resident, and we understand that Tureck was, indeed contacted about her complaints.
Photo courtesy of Raqibah Basir
DSNY said at the time that contracts with some vendors and the City had been terminated for not meeting agreed standards. An official wrote, “The fact is, we are distributing well over one million meals a day, and if an individual has an issue with the food they receive, they should let us know right away at nyc.gov/getfoodhelp or by calling 311.” He added that early on [in the pandemic], when the program first launched, the City occasionally heard these kinds of concerns from residents, and said it took them very seriously.
At that time, Tureck also queried if the food distribution hub at the Kingsbridge Armory was going to be wound down. The DSNY official responded saying there were no plans to stop using the armory as a food distribution hub. “As demand stabilizes, and the city returns to a kind of normal, we are going to see how many facilities are needed,” he said.
Photo courtesy of Raqibah Basir
“Even if we did stop using Kingsbridge as a staging area which, again, there are no plans to do, individuals would not see a difference,” he said in July. “The average New Yorker cannot walk up to Kingsbridge and get food. It is a site where taxi drivers go to get food to deliver. If we moved sites, it would just be that, a change in the location from which we stage deliveries. Again, there are NO plans to stop our work out of Kingsbridge at this time.”
In December, Norwood News was informed by some other Bronx residents of complaints regarding non-receipt, poor selection or poor quality food received allegedly from the City. Raqibah Basir from Fordham Heights told the Norwood News, “You can tell the food isn’t fresh.” She added, “I have also learned that these distributors are sending fresh food to other boroughs in areas a lil’ more ritzy than mine where [as] they can prepare it themselves. That’s how they used to send it to me before. I used to get real fresh veggies, fruits, plain rice.”
Photo courtesy of Raqibah Basir
Basir said that at a certain point she had to throw the food she received out. She shared some photos of meals apparently received from the City to which she was referring, adding, “Would anyone want their loved ones or their elders eating this?” Basir added that she believed there was some kind of funny business going on between the food vendors and the delivery people, and seemed to allege that food meant for customers was being switched and used by other parties. Norwood News has no evidence to support this claim but we did raise this, and all of Basir’s complaints, with DSNY.
Once again, a DSNY official informed us that the agency takes all food complaints very seriously and urged people to call 311 to report any problems. The official added that food provided under the program must be high quality, must meet nutritional guidelines set by the City’s health department, and must be palatable. The official added that the food is meant for emergency use during this unprecedented time to sustain people who cannot go out, have no one to go out for them, or who cannot afford private options.
Photo courtesy of Raqibah Basir
In response to some other residents’ complaints about inconsistent standards, the official said that it was not uncommon for individuals to receive deliveries from different vendors week to week, and said the City addresses any complaints received directly with the impacted vendors.
In response to one particular complaint, the DSNY official said it was not the case that some neighborhoods receive pantry boxes/groceries while others receive prepared meals, adding that for several months now, the City only distributes prepared meals. He said other programs run by non-profits (sometimes with city funding) do provide groceries, and that this could potentially be the cause of some confusion, and the root of some complaints. However, the official refuted, in the strongest terms, the suggestion that some city neighborhoods got “better” or “different” food than others.
Photo courtesy of Raqibah Basir
On Monday Jan. 18, Basir circulated some further photos on social media of some food deliveries she received, saying that she had been allegedly sent food to which she was allergic, even though she had allegedly specified about her allergy ahead of time. “NYC Get Food abuse really want to starve a disabled senior who just got of the hospital,” she said.
Prior to that DSNY provided the Norwood News with a list of the latest 30 vendors appointed by the City for food preparation and delivery under the City’s Get Food NYC program, as of December 2020. The deadline for receipt of solicitations by DSNY was July 21, 2020 at 4 p.m. Bids are now closed.
According to the DSNY, bidders were required to submit a “Meal Plan Worksheet” as part of their application, along with descriptions of the meals. To assist potential bidders in completing the Meal Plan Worksheet, an addendum was drawn up which asked bidders to include five examples of lunch meal descriptions and five examples of dinner meal descriptions for informational use only.
The list of appointed food vendors provided by DSNY is outlined below in order of contract size/value. Addresses were not included in the original file. Norwood News looked up the addresses listed on the internet for each of the establishments, to the best of our ability, and have added them to the file.
Source: NYC Department of Sanitation
In at least one case, a business had more than one location / listing. Where this was the case, we included the first location only. Some businesses appear to be based outside New York and indeed outside of the country. We queried this with DSNY and they said, “None of the vendors currently being used are based outside of the United States. Of the 30 current vendors, 28 have a corporate presence within
In one of the lines in the file, two businesses were listed in the same line i.e. A&J of Manhattan Inc. and DBA Gastronome Catering. We asked if one was a subsidiary of another. DSNY said, “Sometimes, it makes sense for a company to do business under a different name. To do this, the company files what’s known as a Doing Business As, or DBA. A DBA is also known as a “fictitious business name,” “trade name,” or “assumed name.” Once your DBA registration is complete, the company can use the secondary name to open bank accounts, write checks, and enter contracts. Gastronome Catering is solely a doing business name for A&J Manhattan.”
As some. of the companies listed appeared to be intermediaries rather than straight-forward food catering services, we asked DSNY if the use of intermediaries did not render the program more expensive, given intermediaries would obviously take a fee. A DSNY representative said, “These contracts were based on a low-bid solicitation, as mandated by FEMA. If a vendor was awarded a contract, they were one of the lowest-cost bidders.”
Of the 30 businesses listed, just two are based in the Bronx – Bronx Draft House and Leche & Miel. None are based on Staten Island. While acknowledging the scale and urgency of the Get Food NYC program when it was first launched, as well as the need for efficient distribution of food across the city, we asked DSNY, nonetheless, why more local, small, Bronx-based food outlets were not included in the program, given so many are struggling due to the economic downturn and are in need of support.
DSNY responded saying vendors were sought who could produce, pack, and deliver freshly prepared meals to food-insecure NYC residents. “As a solicitation for prepared meals, and not pantry boxes of groceries, the bidders could partner with or purchase supplies from Bronx-based food suppliers, as long as they could also prepare fresh meals, and deliver them directly to the door of needy recipients,” the DSNY representative said.
He added, “In our solicitation, DSNY made a strong, conscientious effort to reach local vendors and urge them to apply, and are proud in particular of the large number of M/WBE respondents.” He said that this had included reaching out to thousands of businesses registered with NYC Small Business Services. “Many of our vendors are small, local restaurants including several small restaurants in the Bronx, specifically Bronx Drafthouse and Leche y Miel,” he said. “The full list of requirements from the solicitation is here. As mentioned earlier, much of it was mandated by the federal government.”
Norwood News also asked whether additional SNAP benefits could perhaps have been provided to people to allow them to order their own food. The DSNY representative said that because SNAP is a federal program, it is not within the powers of the City of New York to expand it.
“That said, the federal government did expand SNAP, creating a special benefit for any parents of children receiving free, or reduced-price school lunch. Since 2017, that has included all NYC public school children. You can read more about that program here.” The representative added that the Emergency Home Food Deliver program was one that New York City created to fill additional gaps, even after SNAP and P-EBT were implemented.
According to the Get Food NYC program, any resident who cannot go out to get food, or who doesn’t have anyone who can bring food to them, and is unable to use private delivery options, can have emergency meals delivered to them. Residents’ eligibility for the program will be assessed, and sign up is required. Click on the links below for more information.
Editor’s Note: Raqibah Basir is an acquaintance of Síle Moloney, editor of the Norwood News.
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Welcome to the Norwood News, a bi-weekly community newspaper that primarily serves the northwest Bronx communities of Norwood, Bedford Park, Fordham and University Heights. Through our Breaking Bronx blog, we focus on news and information for those neighborhoods, but aim to cover as much Bronx-related news as possible. Founded in 1988 by Mosholu Preservation Corporation, a not-for-profit affiliate of Montefiore Medical Center, the Norwood News began as a monthly and grew to a bi-weekly in 1994. In September 2003 the paper expanded to cover University Heights and now covers all the neighborhoods of Community District 7. The Norwood News exists to foster communication among citizens and organizations and to be a tool for neighborhood development efforts. The Norwood News runs the Bronx Youth Journalism Heard, a journalism training program for Bronx high school students. As you navigate this website, please let us know if you discover any glitches or if you have any suggestions. We’d love to hear from you. You can send e-mails to norwoodnews@norwoodnews.org or call us anytime (718) 324-4998.
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