Home delivery goes green via bikes

Freakishly fast subs aren’t the only food available for zero-carbon home delivery. More artisanal food purveyors are starting to offer their edibles by bike, catering to housebound (as well as just plain lazy), green-minded consumers.

Logan Square’s new French bakery La Boulangerie (2569 N Milwaukee Ave, 773-358-2569, cook-au-vin.com/breadflix) is one small business that likes bikes. Its Breadflix program ($45–$70 per month), which plays off the idea of Netflix’s DVD home-delivery system, offers monthly subscriptions of baguettes, ciabatta and croissants, delivered to your door by bike anywhere from two to five days per week. The catch? You have to live in Logan Square.

If you love the idea of getting your produce via Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) but could do without the weekly runs to the designated drop-off point, Loaded Bikes (617-519-5512, tzippora@westtownbikes.org; summer $7–$10 per week, winter $8–$15, depending on mileage) will pick up your share and bring it to you. “I love the idea of totally replacing car trips,” says LB founder Tzippora Rhodes, who’s now in her second season of deliveries. “I do this because I’m interested specifically in supporting the local sustainable food model, with a sub goal of getting more people to sign up for CSAs.”

And though he’s built a business on four-wheelers, local food-truck pioneer Matt Maroni is putting his food on a bike, too. The storefront version of his Gaztrowagon truck (5973 N Clark St, 773-942-6152) is now delivering sandwiches to Edgewater via bike messenger. “With the truck we have to start the generators, make sure the ovens are hot,” Maroni says. The other upside to bikes? “You don’t have to worry about parking.”