Maureen Hogan hates grocery shopping. She often found herself overspending at the grocery, forgetting things she needed for certain recipes, and spending hours in the store.

Hogan found the solution she was looking for in Plumgood Foods. No more long lines at the grocery store. No more overspending.

“I love it,” she said. “I sit at home and place my grocery order online. If I’m not sure I need something, I can just go look in the pantry. If I need to know an ingredient for a recipe, I just go look.”

Plumgood provides home (or office) delivery of groceries including fresh fruits, vegetables, meats, chicken, fish, dairy products and a host of other staples you might need for your kitchen cabinet.  It also has a delicious line of freshly prepared foods along with personal care and other household items.

Those staples include home delivery of many of Nashville’s GLBT’s favorites including breads from Provence Breads & Cafe, coffees from Bongo Java and ice cream from Maggie Moo's.

Delivery is $7.95 with a minimum $30 order ($5.95 for orders more than $75) – or you can pick it up at the Plumgood warehouse with a minimum order of $20. Orders are delivered in insulated totes.

Hogan can’t take advantage of the home delivery – she lives in Smith County with her partner and mother-in-law. She picks up her order (it’s packed and ready for her) at the Plumgood Food warehouse on Cannery Row when she is in Nashville (several times a week). The Cannery Row warehouse sits on the site where local farmers would deliver their crops to be canned and loaded onto trains for distribution.

“I have really been impressed with their customer service,” Hogan said. “The service is awesome.”

That’s good news to owners’ Eric and Kate Satz, who opened the business in October 2004. Since then it has grown more than 1,500 regular customers and recently announced delivery expansion outside of Davidson and Williams County to Sumner and Rutherford County.

“Our mission at Plumgood is to make life easier and cooking more fun,” Eric Satz said. “We want you to spend less time in your car and more time at home, eating healthy and delicious food with family and friends.”

Satz said his family use to use a similar home delivery grocery service when he lived in San Francisco. After relocating to Nashville, he said he was motivated to start the company because he couldn’t find a viable grocery delivery company.

“We also wanted to raise customer’s expectations of how they should be treated and serviced,” he said.

Hogan said she has seen her weekly grocery bill decrease since ordering from Plumgood – and has found that the online ordering has kept her from overspending.

“It keeps me on budget,” she said.

Satz said that experience was typical of many of his more than 1,500 customers who regularly use Plumgood. He added that the grocery service is priced competitive for customers who buy natural or gourmet foods.

“We are priced competitive when you are comparing organic apples to organic apples, “ Satz said. “Plus there are no impulse buys.”

A full-time customer service specialist helps with any mistakes or complaints from customers.

We are competing with some very large companies. We have a core group of customers, but we want to take it further,” he said. “We are a homegrown company and want local support. I think we are a part of what makes Middle Tennessee unique and special.”

Plumgood offers daily delivery throughout Nashville, Brentwood and Franklin, and makes stops at homes and businesses in Sumner County on Monday, Wednesday and Friday. The company is also beefing up delivery to Madison, Hermitage, Mt. Juliet, Old Hickory, Lebanon, Murfreesboro, La Vergne, Smyrna, Columbia, Spring Hill, and Thompson’s Station.

Customers can create a “standing order” and receive staples such as bread, milk every week and shop online for all new items each week, or do both.  There are no specific time slots for delivery, and a customer doesn’t have to be home to receive an order.

For Out & About Newspaper readers, Plumgood is offering new customers $25 in free food – use promotional code PRIDE at checkout. For more information about Plumgood Food go to www.plumgoodfood.com or call 615-248-4448.