Tuesday, August 4, 2009

Tomatoes, chicken salad, flowers, and cookies might be priceless

What is really rude in the Hamptons is the audacity of the prices charged at Round Swamp Farm in East Hampton.

For $ 66.08, I bought 3 tomatoes, 3 small containers of chicken salad, a bouquet of local flowers, and 5 cookies.

Never again !!!!!

- P

It's widely accepted that Round Swamp isn't the cheapest place to shop, but much of the product is local - The Editor

6 comments:

  1. What's rude is disparaging a local institution because you didn't look at the prices of your items beforehand. I guess Citarella's prices are ok because you expect them to be high?

    ReplyDelete
  2. The people at Round Swamp Farm are amazing! They are nice and courteous---even when screaming kids and their super-rude parents are dilly-ing around maveling at the freshly-baked pies, cookies and muffins.

    The prices at Round Swamp are reasonable...given everything is made with fresh ingredients in small batches.

    If the writer wants food made in a commissary, the he or she should shop at Citarella.

    ReplyDelete
  3. round swamp is a rip off of every asshole in the hamptons, no prices posted anywhere. the sweet ladies who bake the pies are thieves. i made 2 pounds of chicken salad for 10 dollars not 40. fuck you ladies

    ReplyDelete
  4. Round Swamp Farm is a great place, run by local families and the food is absolutely delicious.

    That being said, they will charge what people will pay for their goods. If people are willing to pay 10 bucks for a pastry, then heck yeah, I would charge that much. I do not blame them one bit, and I am happy their business is so successful. But that is why local people do not shop there.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Round Swamp Farm is a staple in East Hampton & the women who work there are fabulous. There's an IGA down the road & Waldbaums is practically around the corner, there's no reason to complain about Round Swamp.

    ReplyDelete
  6. A little late to respond, but I just came across this for the first time & had to reply. I would like to start by saying Round Swamp is one-of-a-kind. A family owned & operated business for over 40yrs now. The farm itself has been in the same family for over 350yrs. You will not find any other like it on the island.
    With that said, I would like to introduce you to the world of a Round Swamp worker. Those "sweet ladies" that do all the baking & cooking are there at 3:00am & don't leave sometimes until 11:00pm. They slave over hot ovens & stoves in 90' weather making everything fresh & perfect. At the start of the day before the doors are even open, the owner is up wiping down every counter top that food will touch, sorting through ea. tomato & making sure every thing looks perfect.
    Then the work setting up the cold room gets on way. Every piece of fruit & every vegetable was pulled off the shelf the night before & is now being picked through & arranged just so.
    Now the fish market is next. All the fish on display was pulled the night before & is now being replaced w/ new. The seafood is fresh & whatever can, is locally caught by local fisherman. All of which has been butchered on premises.
    Every Sunday the ENTIRE farm stand is scrubbed from ceiling to floor. Even the bags of potatoes chips get taken off the shelf & wiped clean. I assure you, you will not find a cleaner food market anywhere.
    Now I know the article is about price, so let me get to that. I would like to first respond to gillian miniter, who so rudely herself, commented on no prices being posted. I would like to correct you & say that any item that is not individually priced, there is a price chart hanging nearby to accommodate you. Many of the products are sold by weight. They get weighed at the register & the actual price is very clearly shown on the register screen.
    The produce many times is cheaper then the grocery stores & you can't even compare the quality on that. The fish again, we have competitive prices, sometimes cheaper then the Seafood Market. The lobster salad which is made daily, from locally caught lobsters is one of the lowest priced in town. (no celery included!) Like most of the items in the stand, if any remains the next day, it is half-priced.
    The food sold at the farm stand is very fairly priced if you take everything into account. The level of freshness, the cleanliness, the packaging & the friendly service. If everyone actually knew the love & hard work that goes into each item sold at Round Swamp, there would never be a compliant.

    As a side note, I would like to mention that Round Swamp contributes to the local community, more so than most businesses around. There is never a fund raiser that gets turned down. The family is very involved w/ the community & that is something more people need to think about.

    ReplyDelete