Food Development

You are the lab!

Food Development

“Food Dev” has been an important part of Clover since the days of the first food truck.

We’d make something we love eating, put it onto the menu, with very little “chef ego” involved.

Then we’d interview people after they ate their meals, and make changes based on their feedback. We were worried about losing this important aspect of Clover as we grew. Instead it’s expanded.

We hold a weekly Food Development Meeting at CloverHUB (1075 Cambridge St, 02139) that’s open to the public. We taste new ingredients, try menu items “championed” by staff or customers, and talk about QC across the company. It’s a really fun time, and a chance for you to peer into a process that is totally hidden at most companies. We’ve gotten some of our best menu ideas from staff members (hi Carrot Sandwich) or customers (hello Panelle). We invite you to participate in Food Dev.

Click here to sign up!

May 16, 2023

Chris eats a dahlia tuber

By Lucia

What is Chris eating? When we toured the field at Siena, the crew was planting dahlia tubers. They get planted in warm soil, will grow all summer and will be ready for harvest in the fall. They reminded us of sunchokes, so we got to talking about whether the tubers are edible and it turns out they are! Are they delicious?

February 21, 2023

Are you going to Enzo’s this Friday?

By Lucia

Join us this Friday for pizza (and excitement) at the HUB! If you’ve been reading for a while, you know Enzo. He worked at Clover for 9 years and is responsible for some of our best innovations (like the Japanese Sweet Potato Sandwich, or the thing we do with ninth-pans to hold up our fry timers). Enzo has always been really passionate about pizza. For the past few years he’s been working on a new kind of dough. It’s sort of foccaccia, sort of Sicilian, baked in a deep Lloyd pan.

January 13, 2023

Food Dev Reborn!

By Lucia

Thanks all who joined for the first public food dev meeting after Covid. Phil did a great job pulling it all together. If you’re a customer, farmer, vendor (or Clover staff member) reading this, you are invited to Food Dev! These happen Thursday afternoons at the HUB and they’re where all new food ideas are born. Just make sure to sign up – spots are limited.

January 5, 2023

We heard this box may cause snow to fall

By Lucia

House-made carrot lox, hearty vegetable stews with bread and pickles, Tunisian breakfast bowls, a pizza party kit, and a dream of snow, all in one box. Our Snowed In Box is back. This was Greg’s idea back in 2020. He thought it would be cool to make a box that was equally whether eaten after snowboarding or cozied up on the couch watching a movie.

December 1, 2022

Clover meal boxes collide with Clover restaurants

By Max Frank

It was inevitable. Our meal box program had to find its way into restaurants at some point. A bunch of you have been asking if we can sell “on demand” meal boxes in our restaurants – for those times when you have last-minute dinner guests or forgot to subscribe by the deadline. So we’ve been easing into the process of combining one part of Clover with another.

November 28, 2022

Cook with the King at home: December 5 -12

By Lucia

Brussels Sprouts are extra sweet this time of year, and King Brussels, in his infinite wisdom, has cooked up a Brussels Week in our meal boxes. Every single subscription box will contain a recipe inspired by brussels! This is the first time we’ve explored a seasonal theme across our entire lineup and we’re excited to dive in.

September 16, 2022

You are the lab!

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