Good question, there are a variety of reasons why our costs might appear to be high. Firstly, we are extremely limited with respect to couriers who will deliver our perishable items nationwide. Currently only one courier company is able to offer this service to us.
Secondly, it takes a lot of time, care and materials to package each order. Our team work their hardest to ensure your order has been carefully packaged so it arrives with you in perfect condition.
The lead time is the time it takes for us to source a product for you, before we can package it and dispatch it. Because many of the products we offer are imported, hard to find, artisanal or handmade, we do not hold them in stock. Products that have a lead time will state the relevant duration in red writing, and if you put a lead time product in your Cart the Delivery Dates available in our Shipping Calendar will be adjusted to reflect the lead time. If you need the other items in your Cart to arrive sooner, you can remove the lead time product/s and purchase them separately.
For example: if you're placing your order before 11am on a Tuesday morning but one of the products in your Cart has a 24-hour lead time, your order will not be eligible for Same Day delivery or Next Day delivery, but will be available for dispatch on the Wednesday and delivery on the Thursday.
Our Shipping Calendar displays available Delivery Dates 90 days in advance. This means you can order in early October for a Delivery Date just before Christmas, or plan up to 3 months ahead to receive your order in time for any special occasion. The specific Shipping Methods offered to you, and the Delivery Dates shown as available, will depend on what you have in your Cart and where you are located.
Well, we have two main people involved in preparing orders. One is a Picker, the other is a Packer.
The Picker will pick all the items required for the order from our warehouse. These items are picked in the warehouse and can be picked from either the freezer, fridge or dry goods store. The Picker will then assemble the order.
The Packer then takes over and their role is to check through the items and match them against the packaging slip. The packer will check the quality of each item, for example look for any blemishes in fruit, dents in tins, expiry dates etc.
Once all the correct standards have been met, items are split into 3 categories: Frozen, Chilled, or Ambient.
We use a vast array of different materials to package our products, depending on the above will determine what we use.
Frozen Goods – Presently need to go into a poly box (we are constantly on the lookout for
an alternative to these) with recyclable ice packs and dry ice (-63 degrees).
Chilled Products – These are wrapped in special air-filled recyclable paper together with
recyclable gel packs. This acts like a refrigerator.
Ambient Products – Generally due to the nature of these products they do not require any special packaging. Items in glass containers will be wrapped carefully in padded paper or bubble wrap if necessary.
We always recycle the packaging we receive from our suppliers. Nothing goes to waste!
How long is a piece of string? Ok, so the nature of the item determines the time it takes to package it up and which materials are required to ensure it travels safely and securely to its destination. It can vary from a minute and a half for an ambient order, to up to half an hour for a mixed order! In general:
5+ items of various categories will take 8-10 minsOur average packing time tends to be 16 minutes.
We deliver Tuesday to Saturday. We don’t deliver on Sundays or Mondays because we don’t work at weekends – everybody needs a break!
Please note: 'Next day delivery' refers to the next available Delivery Date shown in our Shipping Calendar. If the next sequential day is not feasible for us operationally (eg, it's a Monday or a public holiday), we will not deliver on that day.
| Delivery service | Carrier | Items this suits | Transit time | Cost | Tracked? | Signed for? |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Courier Delivery |
DPD For orders that contain Perishable items, delivery will default to this carrier. |
'Dry' packaged goods (such as rice and flour) and semi-perishable goods (such as edible flowers and some cheeses) are eligible for Standard service. Every product on the website is eligible for Named Day and Expedited services. |
Standard - next available delivery date, usually delivered within 2-5 working days (8am - 8pm) | £8.99 | Yes | All our DPD services are usually Signed For, but Covid 19 protocols mean that delivery drivers do not currently require a signature. |
| Named Day Delivery - choose your day (2-Day service for Scottish Lowlands, Tue-Fri) |
£12.95 £14.95 |
Yes | ||||
|
Expedited & Weekend Services (Not available in Scotland): |
||||||
|
- By 1.00pm (8am - 1.00pm) |
£18.95 | Yes | ||||
| - By 10.30am (8am - 10.30am) | £20.95 | Yes | ||||
| Saturday (8am – 5.30pm) |
£18.95 |
Yes | ||||
|
Saturday By 1.00pm (8am - 1.00pm) |
£20.95 | Yes | ||||
| 2nd Class Post | Royal Mail |
'Dry' packaged goods such as rice and flour and any non-Perishable items (c.10% of our products are eligible for this service) Products must be under 2kg in weight including packaging. |
2-5 Days | £4.99 | Yes | No |
We do! Receive your Delivery on a Saturday by selecting a Saturday Service in your Cart.
We offer special same-day delivery to selected London postcodes, priced at £30. Order before 11am Monday-to-Friday for delivery between 2pm - 6pm on the same day (orders placed after 11am will be delivered on the next working day). Eligible postcodes:
N1, N2, NW1, NW3 E14, EC1, EC2, EC3 SE1, SE5, SE11, SE17, SE24 SW1, SW2, SW3, SW4, SW5, SW6, SW7, SW8, SW9, SW10, SW11, SW12, SW15, SW18, SW19 W1, W2, W4, W5, W8, W11, W12, W14, WC1, WC2
Note: orders to these postcodes that include a Live Lobster will default to this service.
Harder-to-reach areas to will require a longer transit time. If you live in one of the following locations, our Checkout will block the regular Next/Named Day shipping options and will instead offer tailored options and Delivery Dates:
Scottish Lowlands - £14.95 (Saturday £20.95)
Scottish Highlands & Islands, Isle of Man (excluding Shetlands) - £27
(DPD are now outsourcing deliveries to Shetland, and delivery can take up to 5 days. Subsequently we cannot provide a DPD service to Shetland at this time.)
Northern Ireland - £23
Due to post-Brexit Customs restrictions on the international transportation of foodstuffs, we are not currently able to offer delivery overseas, including to the Republic of Ireland.
Delivery to Jersey & Guernsey and the UK Channel Islands is charged at a flat rate of £70, and is transported by boat on a 2-3 Day Service.
Northern Ireland and the Isle of Man are served by our 2-3 Day service to remote areas (see above).
Due to its proximity to the mainland, the Isle of Wight is served by our regular mainland Shipping services.
We've designed the delivery system on our website to cross-reference lead times, cut-off times, destinations, the items in your basket, and to give out the next available delivery date accordingly. Our system is designed to make sure that we get your products to you in the best condition, and in the shortest time we can.
We hope this has answered any questions you may have about Fine Food Specialist’s delivery service. If you have any additional questions, simply get in touch with our team! Our contact details are in the footer of this page.
