FRESH STUFF

The latest and the greatest from Team Thistle.

[thistleco-blog]

NEW THISTLE SUBSCRIPTION: FAQS

Questions about our new subscription service? Check out the below..

Q. How do I order one off? I don’t want to be tied into a subscription.

A. No worries! To order a one-off plan, head to our Thistle Trials page and place your order. You’ll still get all the wonderful goodness that our subscription plans offer, although you save more if you subscribe.

Q. How do I cancel or pause my subscription?

A. Once subscribed, you can easily pause or cancel your subscription by heading to My Account > Next Order, then clicking on ‘Pause or cancel’. Here you will be able to cancel deliveries for just one week, until a specific date or, indefinitely.

Q. Help! I’m getting a 403 error when I try to subscribe!

A. Some customers who have ordered with us before are having an issue signing in because of a browser cookie issue. It can be resolved by clearing your browser's cookie history. Let us know if you need help sorting it out!

Q. How much time do I have before delivery to adjust my order?

A. Modifications can be made up to 48 hours before your next delivery day. Please contact us if you’re having trouble making a change!

Q. I just want to order Thistle for one day every week, how do I do this?

A. If you’d like one day’s worth of Thistle, you will need to order a 1-Day Thistle Trial. Unfortunately we don’t currently offer 1-Day plans on subscription.

Q. How do I add my allergies / dietary restrictions / preferences?

A. Simple! After you enter your email and zip code, you will be asked to choose which protein you’d like (Vegan or Animal protein). On this page, you can also add a note to let us know if you have any additional allergy or dietary concerns. If you want to add this in after subscribing, just head to My Account and click on ‘Edit meal plan’ to make any changes.

[thistleco-blog]

INTRODUCING: A BRAND NEW THISTLE

Today is a big day for us. 

Today, we are rolling out a brand new website with an awesome subscription service that makes enjoying Thistle even simpler and cheaper than ever before.

So, what’s new?

The Thistle subscription plan

When you head to the Thistle website, you’ll now be able to set up an ongoing subscription plan that you can adjust or pause anytime.

We know that some people only want breakfast or lunch, whereas others prefer three meals per day, plus drinks and snacks. With our new subscription plan, you get to choose what you want and when you want it – whether that’s 5 meals per week or 15 meals per week, we’ve got it covered! Plus, you won’t have to keep coming back, week after week, to reorder your meals.

Easy account management

When you sign up to a subscription, we’ll create an account for you that allows you to login and easily access all your order information. From here you’ll be able to view and update your plan, dietary restrictions and delivery instructions.

Our lowest prices ever

Not only will our subscription service make ordering Thistle easier, it’ll also be cheaper. With a Thistle subscription you’ll be getting the same amount of goodness, but at a lower cost. Plans start at $10 per meal with free delivery which is more than 20% cheaper than our one-time orders.

New website

Notice something different? Yep, we’ve had a makeover, and it feels great! With a new order system, design and layout, our website is now easier to use across devices, making the whole Thistle experience, from end-to-end, even more delightful. You’ll also see that we’ve added a live chat feature to our site, so give us a holler there if you need to get in touch!

Earlier delivery windows

We don’t want you to have to adjust your schedule around us – Thistle should fit into your schedule rather than disrupt it. We listened to your feedback and in response, we have shifted our delivery windows earlier to 6-8AM and 8-10AM so you can get an even stronger start to your day.

New menu

If you’re a non-vegan Thistler, great news! We’re now including healthy animal protein add-ons to each of our lunches so you have even more delicious options to choose from.

Yep, we’ve been pretty busy...

All this change is the product of months of hard work (and copious cold brews). But all this hard work would’ve been nothing without our loyal following of Thistlers. Every single one of our awesome customers has been integral in helping to shape Thistle into what it is now. If it wasn’t for the incredible support, feedback and enthusiasm from all of you, we wouldn’t be here now.

Our mission is simple: we want to provide access to delicious, condensed nutrition for all – and with a new, improved Thistle, we will be even better equipped to reach it.

We’re so happy that you have joined us on our journey so far, and we’re super excited about the next chapter!

[thistleco-blog]

THISTLE GETS CREATIVE AT RE:MAKE 2015

What happens when you gather a bunch of artistic minds together under one roof, give everyone a watercolor paint set and throw in a swathe of inspirational speakers, brands and colorful decor?

People get creative!

Last week Thistle had the incredible opportunity of feeding the crew at Re:Make 2015, an annual event hosted by Brit + Co.

Drawing crowds from across the design and tech industries, the event was attended by leading designers, entrepreneurs, bloggers, artisans and brands, all of whom are shaping today’s creative movement.

Creativity was the word on everyone’s lips and the event was a true celebration and exploration of it in all forms.

Team Thistle were in charge of feeding 500 mouths, and if we may say so ourselves -- we totally rocked it! The team worked flat out to get the meals shipped and it truly was an incredible achievement for the whole company.

So what did we serve up? On the menu was a superfood sunshine bowl with an addition of rotisserie chicken for the non-vegans. We also showcased four of our delicious cold-pressed juices: Autumn, Amber, Verdance, and Spark.

Special thanks go out to the Brit + Co team and all those involved in making it a success!

Coming up...

Team Thistle is working hard to build out a new ordering system for customers which we're excited to share in the next few weeks! Stay tuned!

[thistleco-blog]

WHY THISTLE IS OFFERING CUSTOMERS THE OPTION TO BE "VEGAN-ISH"

When we started Thistle, we had one mission in mind -- to improve health and wellness for all. In researching diets that optimized personal health as well environmental wellness, one diet stood out in particular --- plant-based diets. Studies have found that plant-based diets are good for your heart, your weight and your overall health - and have the least impact on our fragile and limited environmental resources.

We really like Michael Pollan’s simple motto: “Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants.”

Let’s break it down…

Eat Food

What he really means is eat real food. Food that isn’t processed and doesn’t come from a factory. Science agrees that the best diet is real food. "A diet of minimally processed foods close to nature, predominantly plants, is decisively associated with health promotion and disease prevention."

(Photo: Luke Beard // Styling: Abby Culin)

Not too much

Then how do you get full?

Simple carbohydrates don’t fill you up. You get a blood sugar spike and then a crash and you’re hungry again. Processed foods make it even worse by kick-starting this reaction. We include lots of vegetables and whole grains in our meals, which have fiber and nutrients that get you satisfied with more by eating less.

(Photo: Luke Beard // Styling: Abby Culin)

Mostly plants

We think a plant-based diet is the best diet. Plant foods are full of vitamins, minerals and fiber. You get all sorts of disease-fighting properties from colorful fruits and veggies.

(Photo: Luke Beard // Styling: Abby Culin)

That being said, we understand that for many, completely excluding animal products from their diet is a step they aren’t quite ready to take. So we're excited to announce that for those who are not yet ready to take the plunge into 100% plant-based, Thistle is now offering a "vegan-ish" meal option. What this means is that your breakfast and lunch will be vegan, but your dinner will include just the right portion of lean meats or fish. All meals will continue to be plant-dense, full of delicious, primarily organic fruits, vegetables, nuts & seeds, and nutrient-dense grains.

We will still continue to provide great meals and snacks for our current vegan superfans. We hope this new option will appeal to a broader group of individuals who strive to be vegan-ish, taking an important step towards eating better and reducing their environmental footprint.

Get started with Thistle next week and take the first step towards a healthier you!

[thistleco-blog]

AN OPEN LETTER TO OUR CUSTOMERS

Dear Thistlers / Thistleites / Thistleonians,

If you’re reading this, you likely received a note from our team that Thistle is pausing our on-demand operations for the time being with our last day being Friday, February 6th. This was an incredibly difficult decision for us and I thought I would provide a bit more context on why we made this decision.

My cofounders and I started this company with a simple mission: Provide convenient access to locally sourced, sustainably produced, nutritious and, above all, delicious food and beverages.

From the start, every major decision we made was guided by this mission -- from choosing sustainable glass bottles, to the perfect balance of delicious and nutritious ingredients, to the most convenient delivery mechanism (retail, corporate, on-demand). As a result, every day since launch in January 2014, we have been humbled by our amazing customers and their enthusiasm for our products and, thanks to you, we were able to grow our team and spread our brand in a way we couldn’t have imagined in a single short year.

In this period, we delivered tens of thousands of bottles of juice and food to happy customers in SF (on-demand) and beyond (via Good Eggs) and got some great press (Forbes, HuffPo, 7x7, etc.).  We launched our on-demand service last May and our scrappy team managed to create a great experience and it was something we proudly did with minimal external capital.

We were growing fast. But as our operations grew, so did our costs - and, despite our efforts and creativity, it became clear to us that without raising significant venture capital, the short-term unit economics of continuing with the service would put the rest of our business at risk.

We were devoting too many of our resources to figuring out logistics rather than our core product – the amazingly healthy food and beverage items you have all come to love. Other aspects of our business are doing quite well, so after much debate and soul-searching, we decided to make the hard decision to end our on-demand service for the time being and focus on continuing to improve and develop the Thistle product line.

Does this mean you will be deprived of your Thistle fix? Absolutely not!

You can grab our juices from our West of Pecos pop-up location or our partners Green Heart Foods (3321 20th St.), Studiomix Café (1000 Van Ness Ave), Craftsman & Wolves (746 Valencia St.) and Paramo (4 Embarcadero Center) or via Postmates.

Or - even better, want your company to stock Thistle? We work with a number of companies for daily or weekly deliveries. We would be incredibly grateful if you could connect us with your office manager or head of culinary and you may be able to get Thistle stocked at work! Please fill out this form and we’ll get the process started!

We’re also going to be launching scheduled deliveries and subscriptions over the next couple of weeks. Sign up below to be notified as soon as we launch.

If you’re feeling especially generous with your time, I would love to get your feedback in 5 minute phone call or over a juice / latte. We promise to give you some Thistle swag in return! Shoot me a quick email at [email protected] and i'll get back to you asap.

Finally, a huge thanks from our team for your kind words, enthusiasm and support. We wouldn’t be here without you – and we promise we wont ever forget that.

With gratitude,

Ash and the entire Thistle team

[thistleco-blog]

LABELING THISTLE BOTTLES

We're rolling out labels in the next few weeks. Here is a video of the first bottles going through the process. We're pumped!