While it may lack the shorthand value of “touch grass” or “stop and smell the roses,” I’ve always thought of grocery shopping as a nice little escape from staring at screens for a while.
And then the apps came.
The other day I was browsing the produce at Save Mart. I saw a great deal on corn. 10 ears for a dollar? Sign me up!
Complication: this particular price was the dreaded “app” coupon. I’d resisted downloading supermarket apps for years (who could want such a thing?), but had eventually relented many months ago, drawn by deals just such as this one.
So I opened my Save Mart app. Allowed it to access my location (just this once). Set my preferred store to the one I was standing in. I went to scan the coupon under the display so that I could “clip” the coupon (another thing this app inexplicably requires), and… nope. The bar code just sends you to the app store to download the app that I already had. I searched the app for the advertised deal. Putting “corn” in the search bar failed to locate it. Already groaning internally, I took my haul to the checkout lane.
When the cashier rang up my corn, sure enough, it came up as a buck an ear (10 times more than the advertised price!). As much as I didn’t want to hold up the line, I had already pledged to this corporation all of my firstborn grocery data. The least they could do in return was honor their promise of cut-rate corn. I handed the cashier my phone. She scrolled for 60, 90, 180 seconds, the grocery-goers behind me rolling their eyes internally and silently cursing my existence, I was sure. Eventually she found it, and honored the advertised discount.
The whole experience raised a few questions. Well, one, mainly: is app-adoption really so important a pillar of the supermarket business model? Once I’ve already agreed to attach a phone number to all of my purchases, identifying myself and giving away access to all of my valuable milk and turnip-purchasing patterns, how does it benefit the Save Mart Corporation to have me download a free app? And if it’s so important, why didn’t they code it better? Is it really worth slowing down checkouts and annoying everyone to the point that we leave the store bitter and demoralized?
Was this experience really worth it to me to save seven dollars? I would like to say no, but you know what they say about actions and words.
Sadly I cannot solve the unnecessary app problem in this newsletter. I can, however, offer a few new ways to touch grass. Er, dirt. This week I’m talking to a Master Gardener, to get you off your screens and into the backyard to grow your food. Not this screen though. This one is okay.
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— Vince Mancini, Contributing Editor, Food
This week’s local food news
Happy Pride! The big parade is this Saturday, at 10 am. [Fresno Rainbow Pride]
The sweet corn agnolotti is back at Annex. Is this Fresno’s most famous dish? It’s been around for a decade now, but it’s still an automatic order for yours truly. [Instagram]
Sweet Tomatoes *could* be coming back to Fresno. That’s the headline, anyway. It sounds more like people complained so much about the salad bar restaurant closing its Fresno locations that it forced them to release a vaguely worded statement. “The company stated that they truly appreciate your support and would love the opportunity to welcome you back to Sweet Tomatoes again in the future.” [Fresno Bee]
A new Korean BBQ place had its soft opening at Fashion Fair. They serve all-you-can-eat Korean BBQ for $39.99. At the mall! “According to a post on a local realtor’s page, the menu states that the restaurant will charge $25 for any leftover meat and that there is a two-hour limit.” [KSEE]
Future Hermit Crabs? The downtown KFC on C street has become a Smashville and the Wendy’s next to it has become an Aliberto’s. I’m kind of over the smashburger and Nashville hot chicken trends, personally. [Fresno Bee]
Is Bobby Salazar about to take a plea? The judge set Salazar’s arson trial date for April 6th, though it may not happen if they can agree to a plea deal. He’s accused of paying the head of a biker gang $10,000 to burn down one of his restaurants for the insurance money. Did you know that Australians call them “bikies?” I don’t know why that name is so much funnier to me. [Fresno Bee]
Oh hey, a warehouse belonging to the same biker club just caught on fire. I have no reason to believe these two stories are related, but this one hit while I was writing the blurb for the last one, which is pretty weird. [ABC30]
— Vince Mancini, Contributing Editor, Food
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