Food is a language of love. Apart from keeping us alive and nourishing our bodies, food connects, wakes up memories, and brings pleasure. Ordering food online is tricky since every dish photo looks perfect. But how can you be sure that your order will not disappoint? Well, customer satisfaction is oftentimes an indication of whether a food delivery service is worth a shot. Let's see if Goldbelly lives up to my expectations.
What Is Goldbelly?
Goldbelly is a platform connecting customers to their perfect meal. Their secret recipe? Nostalgia. They work with selected companies all over the country to bring "an edible hug" to light up someone's day.
Goldbelly helps small local restaurants to deliver nationwide – meaning you can be in New York and order from that hidden gem you discovered when on vacation in California! Takeout just got a lot more intriguing.
Goldbelly At A Glance
- Best Match For: Food enthusiasts who want access to a marketplace that can offer them exclusive and gourmet dishes, sweets, meats, meal kits, pizzas, and pretty much anything food-related.
- Commitment Level: One-time orders; 3, 6, 9, or 12 month subscriptions
- Availability: All 50 states
- Value: Prices and shipping fees vary depending on select items
- Type: A curated online marketplace of the best gourmet foods from small shops and restaurants across the nation.
How Goldbelly Works
With Goldbelly, you can choose between ordering individual meals and signing up for a food subscription. When browsing their page, I could filter on region, restaurant, different meal kits, or subscriptions. To date, there are about 500 individual food providers on the platform. They even have a bacon subscription, one of the best salami of the month clubs, and an ice cream subscription! Truly a heavenly place for a foodie.
In 2019, the company allegedly had 10,000 requests from restaurants and small businesses in the food industry wanting to sell their products there.
Because of such a great choice, I could order my gourmet food and meal kits shipping directly or with scheduled shipment in up to 60 days. This was the most convenient food service experience for me.
Subscriptions
Most subscriptions give you one delivery per month for your choice of 3, 6, 9, or 12 months.
You can also choose a recurring monthly subscription.
Bear in mind that once you sign up for the subscription service and pay for the whole period, you can't cancel and get reimbursed.
Goldbelly does, however, substitute damaged products at no extra cost.
If you sign up for a subscription of a fixed number of months, the subscription will automatically renew for the same number of months once it's finished.
In case you prefer to quit the subscription once it has been renewed, make sure to do so during the first month for the 3-month subscription and within the first 2 months for the longer subscriptions.
Cancel Order
If you've placed a one-time order, and the delivery is three or more days away, you can cancel your order without the need to contact customer support. Check your confirmation email and do the following steps:
- Click the "Check Status" button in your confirmation email.
- Click the arrow button next to your order number. If you can't see an arrow button to the top right of your order, that means that it's too late to cancel.
- Click "Cancel Order."
- An overlay shows up. Click on "Yes, Cancel Items."
- Your order is now canceled!
If your order is shipping in less than three days, you'll need to submit a cancellation request to customer service, and they'll do what they can to help you.
What You Can Expect From Your Meal
Goldbelly is very picky with whom they work. They are profiling themselves as a premium platform, with local and iconic delicacies that are difficult to find elsewhere. Their idea is not to be the fastest nor the cheapest — but the best.
Are you after the best lobster rolls, New York-style pizza, cream cheese bagel, or key lime pie in the best dessert subscription box? Then Goldbelly has got something for you! This is authentic food at its best, far from the more ordinary options you can find at regular food delivery services. Believe me, each time I made an order, I was super excited to try out their dangerously delicious dishes.
Some of the popular restaurants they collaborate with and that can send you fresh food and meals directly to your doorstep:
As you can see, Goldbelly is extremely selective with whom they work with, and only chooses the crème de la crème of top chefs and award-winning restaurants! Expect a taste sensation with each bite.
Looking for an Ultimate Gift?
What I love about Goldbelly are its packaging practices. I have never received a subscription box that was so creative and filled with gifts.
Many of their products are packages suitable for gifting and are more about having an experience than just feeling full.
Packages often come with more than just food. As an example, they can contain an apron, a legendary t-shirt, and other items invoking nostalgia in the recipient.
More than anything, Goldbelly is about food experiences: waking up memories from your childhood village, the big city vacation, or that unforgettable weekend by the ocean when you visited a local seafood restaurant.If you're looking to send food gift baskets, note that it's up to you to notify the recipient to be at home for the delivery.
If they're not there to receive it, and the driver judges it to be too risky to leave the package unattended, you risk having to pay extra fees for another delivery.
Corporate Gifts
Goldbelly can accommodate requests for corporate gifts. Want to send a gift with your company's logo? It's perfectly possible for most restaurants! Forget about boring gift baskets – with Goldbelly, you can find a personalized gift that will be remembered for a long time! You also have the option to send a customized gift card for the recipient.
You can also select to send gifts to multiple recipients at once.
A great idea to celebrate your team's latest wins!
You can handle up to 10 addresses at a time from your backend, while orders of 11 and more require you to email customer support.
A cool feature with Goldbelly is that you can reach out to their team if you want help selecting corporate gifts.
Simply indicate how many gifts you're looking to buy and what your budget is, and they'll hook you up with the perfect match!
Highest Quality
Customers love Goldbelly for its dedication to delivering fresh, warm, and delicious meals. I can't agree more with them.
The Goldbelly team taste-tests every single item in their assortment. Products are evaluated based on flavor, texture, aesthetics, and uniqueness before getting granted a spot in the limelight on Goldbelly. Besides, they regularly test shipping methods and packaging to ensure that optimal practices are used for each item.
Sample Meals
Goldbelly offers food from the following categories: Sweets, Bread & Bagels, Deli, Pizza, Meats & Barbecue, Seafood, and Sides. You can also find holiday specials and gifts.
Some examples from each category:
When it comes to actual dishes, Goldbelly brings you classics such as Philly Cheesesteak, Texas BBQ, pillowy biscuits with the homemade jam from Loveless Cafe, and Chicago Deep Dish Pizza. Check out Goldbelly's pie of the month club, best soup of the month club, and pizza of the month club.
Goldbelly's Food Delivery Service
Since Goldbelly is a connection platform; they do not stock and deliver any food themselves – everything is hand-packed and shipped from the respective restaurants. The food delivery thus depends on what products you order. Some items are shipped frozen, while others arrive fresh. Ice packs or dry ice can be used to keep frozen food cold during transit.
To be honest, it was quite easy to check a restaurant and get their number to learn the details. I made a few phone calls to restaurants that were a bit far from my home to find out whether my New York bagels would arrive fresh. Most customers claim to do the same when they're unsure. Most of the time, it's the fastest way to confirm delivery time as well (instead of contacting Goldbelly directly).
Everything you find on Goldbelly is handmade, packed, and shipped specifically to the needs of that product to make sure you'll receive the freshest, most delicious food. You will find prep/storage instructions included in each order.
Goldbelly ships nationwide, from the east coast to the west coast. At the moment, they don't ship overseas.Goldbelly Delivery Time
Delivery time depends on your order and where you live. As soon as you enter your address at the checkout, the estimated delivery time will show up.
Do I Need to Sign?
For deliveries not containing alcohol, there's no need to sign the package. However, if you're not at home, it's up to the discretion of the driver to decide whether or not it's safe to leave the package outside your door. If you know you won't be at home to pick up the package, it might be a safer bet to order it at your office.
Note that within a certain delivery window, you have the possibility to schedule when you want to receive your package.
Refund Policy
All items on Goldbelly are final sale and thus non-refundable. The exception is items that have been damaged during transit or if there has been an error in the making of your order. If so, contact their customer service within 14 days of reception, and they'll find a way to compensate you. My experience showed me that it took some time to get a refund when my order was not delivered correctly, but customer support was very helpful during the compensation process.
Customer Service
Through their website (goldbelly.com), you can easily reach out to customer service and submit a help request. They're happy to support you with questions about existing orders, products, and more.
When I contacted customer service about my order that contained the wrong dish, I was pleased with how professionally my case was handled.
Note that due to local agricultural laws, many fresh items are not possible to ship to Arizona and California.
Goldbelly Price
Since Goldbelly has so much to offer, the prices of different food items will vary significantly. You can find some sweets and soups for as low as $20, while the monthly subscription clubs start at $84.95. On top of regular prices, there is also a delivery fee based on your location and selected items.
Pros & Cons
PROS:
Goldbelly is a premium service, not meant to substitute your everyday dinners – but rather to get your hands on food that tells a story. Food items that evoke memories and emotional connections. The products you find on Goldbelly are carefully selected before they make it to the platform – many times, you can't order them elsewhere.
A gift basket or subscription from Goldbelly is thus the ultimate personal gift to someone. Send them their favorite cookies or cake from their hometown with a cookie subscription box, or the ultimate BBQ experience that is not available to shop for in their state. What can be a sweeter gift than one that evokes emotions of affection and happiness from reminiscing about the good old times?
You can choose between a one-time purchase or a monthly subscription.
With over 500 restaurants, you have plenty of choices – if anything, you risk getting overwhelmed rather than disappointed!
CONS:
Pre-paid subscriptions can't be canceled. They also auto-renew, meaning you have to remember to cancel them yourself should you not wish to continue.
At the time of writing, subscription boxes cannot be customized for food allergies and dietary requirements.
FAQS
Goldbelly lets you order from regional, iconic restaurants to get your hand on products you won't find elsewhere. You can choose between a single delivery of the quality products of your choice or to sign up for a subscription ranging between 3 and 12 months. A Goldbelly package or subscription is also a perfect gift for a foodie of your liking!
When you order, your products are shipped directly from the respective restaurant, meaning no detour via a head office that costs money and time. This also means that shipping times vary depending on where you live and what restaurant you order from.
Goldbelly also specializes in corporate gifts. Send multiple gifts at once, and take help from their support team to select the perfect presents for your company!
Since 2017, the Goldbelly headquarters have been located in New York City, after 4 years in San Francisco. That said, they don't have central storage from which they ship – products are shipped directly from the local restaurants to your doorstep for a smoother and quicker experience.
The shipping time depends on the venue you order from, as well as where you live. When you enter your address at checkout, the delivery dates available are shown, together with the cost for each date. Many of the venues on Goldbelly offer next-day delivery.
Some of the venues and restaurants ship their food fresh, while others ship it to you frozen – in that case, ice packs or dry ice is used to keep the items cold before they reach your door.
Even though the food can stay fresh while waiting for you to get home, it's advisable to unpack it and put it in the fridge or freezer as soon as possible.
Goldbelly was founded by Joe Ariel in 2013. Joe Ariel is still the CEO. The company received $20 million in investment from Danny Meyer in 2018. Fun fact: the investment came through after Meyer received an unsolicited delivery of a six-pack of Ted Drewes Frozen Custard shipped from his hometown St Louis.
As often is the case, a business idea arises from the will to solve a problem – often one that the founder has encountered in their life. So is also the case for Goldbelly.
It was allegedly Joe Ariel’s own nostalgia that gave the inspiration to launch Goldbelly. Being a college student in Nashville, Ariel had Southern food for the first time – something he described as "a life-changing experience." He developed an emotional connection to the places serving his new favorite foods.
10 years later, when living in New York, Ariel couldn’t get Loveless Cafe biscuits or Prince’s Hot Chicken. His cravings were so strong that he would persuade his friends to ship him platefuls of food overnight.
The strong emotions that followed when unwrapping and indulging in his long-lost favorites gave rise to an idea: why not leverage this emotional connection and upend the prevailing online food delivery models? What if a marketplace wasn’t just about getting you the fastest or cheapest food – but about bringing you the best?
Yes, Goldbelly is a legitimate online platform for food sellers with positive customer reviews. Goldbelly users often note the great customer service, timely delivery, and perfect condition of their orders.
Goldbelly is expensive because of the costs of shipping, packaging, and fees. Restaurants have to find innovative ways to ship and prepare their items to keep them fresh, so most Goldbelly items ship overnight.
You can get overnight shipping on many Goldbelly items. If you have a time-sensitive event, the company recommends ordering your items at least two days prior to the event.
Goldbelly sellers have to master the art of preparing their specific items in the best way possible for shipping. These sellers make sure that the food you receive is fresh and high quality.
Many Goldbelly sellers offer free shipping. However, shipping costs can vary depending on the item and your location. You may also encounter extra fees for expedited shipping.
Depending on the seller, your Goldbelly products may arrive fresh or frozen. It is normal for some frozen products to thaw partially in transit as long as it is cool to the touch when you receive them.
Goldbelly ships to the contiguous United States. The company does not ship to the Virgin Islands, Mexico, Canada, Puerto Rico, or PO Boxes.
You can select your preferred delivery date on Goldbelly, and you will receive tracking information when your order ships. There may be delays due to weather, the courier, or inaccurate shipping information.
The cost of a Goldbelly order varies depending on the seller and the shipping fees. On average, you can expect to pay slightly more than you would for the same food in-person.
No, Goldbelly does not require a signature for most packages. You do not have to be home to receive your order, but you should refrigerate your food as soon as you get it.
Each Goldbelly seller has their own method for packaging. Every item is handmade by the food maker and shipped directly from their shops or distribution Goldbelly partners.
Yes, some frozen Goldbelly items are shipped with dry ice in coolers to remain as fresh as possible.
You can contact Goldbelly customer service at support@goldbelly.com or by phone at 1-888-675-6892.
To cancel a Goldbelly order, you must contact the seller at least 3 days before the shipping date. If you’re expecting an item sooner than 3 days, your sale is final, and you cannot be refunded for canceling unless there is an issue with the order.
You cannot get a refund from Goldbelly unless there is something wrong with the order. If so, you must contact customer support at support@goldbelly.com within 14 days of your delivery.
To make changes to your order on Goldbelly, you need to email support@goldbelly.com at least 2 days before your order ships.
Food for Thought
Goldbelly is an excellent platform to shop for unique and thoughtful gifts.
While it might not be your go-to place for shopping weekday dinners, it's the place for those iconic, hard-to-come-by products that serve as a lot more than nourishment:
Goldbelly offers food that makes your heart and soul sing by evoking happy memories.
Goldbelly is thus the perfect match for those looking for a personal and authentic gift that will make the recipient genuinely happy.
Goldbelly
