Gilt Taste - High-quality at a high price

This week saw the launch of Gilt Taste, a brand new food website. Aimed at the more adventurous foodies among us, Gilt Taste wants to inspire you to “taste something new today”.

Gilt Groupe has been going from strength to strength since it launched its first website in 2007, offering clothing and apparel at discount prices in a flash sale format. Since then they have extended their range to provide discounted air travel via Jetsetter and a location based coupon service called Gilt City.

Gilt Taste is more than just a recipe and review site in the vein of Epicurious or FoodNetwork.com. According to the site’s About Us section, Gilt Taste is an interactive magazine and an online market where “you can connect with the farmers and artisans who make and grow the products, discover where food comes from, learn how to prepare it for the best results and buy it with a single click.”

The opportunity to actually buy “hard-to-get” food items from the site is probably the most revolutionary thing about Gilt Taste, giving you access to goods you might otherwise not even consider purchasing. Some of the items for sale were previously only available to chefs for instance. But, considering Gilt has a tradition of focusing on discounted wares, does the food on offer represent value for money?

For one thing, the focus isn’t on just any old food, but gourmet, artisanal food, so don’t expect to find any processed meat or microwave meals on here. After taking a quick look at what’s on offer on the Gilt Taste homepage, it’s clear that the focus is on providing a platform for quality culinary goods, not on cheap eats.

For example, there’s a 12oz “Chef’s Blend Mushroom Mix” for $19 and four 12oz steaks for $128. Not exactly bargain basement stuff. There’s also shipping and tax to take into account; a reduced delivery rate is being offered during the site’s initial launch.

There is a Weekly Specials section, but as of yet there is nothing there other than a banner stating that “Starting this summer, Gilt Taste will offer Weekly Specials of exceptional products.” So we’ll have to wait and see what they have planned for it.

At first glance there appears to be something for everyone on Gilt Taste, with easily navigable sections for Meat, Seafood, Cheese & Diary, Pantry, Sweets, Produce and Equipment. There’s also a Stories section featuring food-related articles and recipes.

However, each of the above-mentioned sections seems to have a very limited selection; when I’m shopping for food I don’t like to be restricted to what someone else tells me is best. On top of that there’s the price which lends an air of snobbishness to the entire operation – a leg of artisanal pork for $549 anyone? We can all appreciate good food, but obscure mushroom varieties and exceptionally expensive caviar aren’t on top of everyone’s culinary wish list.

One final criticism is that there is no defined section on the site for vegetarian and vegan users. Perhaps buying fresh veggies from Gilt Taste is not viable for them during their launch phase, but one would imagine that a fair proportion of Gilt members appreciate the necessity of eating their greens, and they aren’t catered for (pun unintentional).

The site is still in its beta phase, so we will have to give it the benefit of the doubt for now. It is a wonderful concept, and if the median price range can be reduced, and a little more variety added, it will certainly be one to watch. But as editorial adviser Ruth Reichl says, it is intended to be “a luxury brand,” so perhaps Gilt Taste will be content to occupy that niche. If so, count me out!

Daily Sales Email, or Subscribed to our RSS Feed? Don't miss a Sale!

Posted by Bindra at 02:21 PM
bargain news , Features |