“If another business asks why we chose Metrobi, I’d say it’s because of the seamless onboarding and outstanding customer support, the effortless Shopify integration that minimizes manual backend work, and the professional drivers with clean, well-maintained vehicles who provide a premium delivery experience and represent our brand exceptionally well.”
Introducing Oishii !
The business
Who is Oishii, and how did the business grow?
Oishii is a vertical farming company — or as some call it, an agricultural technology company — growing strawberries indoors using Japanese seeds and robotics. Robots select, cut, and quality-check each strawberry; a separate machine measures sweetness (brix level) before the fruit is graded. Anything above 13 is considered good; a reading of 16-17 sends the whole office fighting over who gets to try it.
Oishii operates two facilities: a smaller original site Nick calls the “HQ,” running four to five indoor farms, and a mega-facility in South Jersey with 10 to 15 farms supplying major retailers like Whole Foods and Stop & Shop. The company sells four grades of strawberries — Koyo, Nyoho, Omakase, and its newest and most exclusive, Condor grade — the latter reserved for strawberries left on the stem longer to maximize sweetness and juiciness. For its highest-end clients, Oishii will even fly strawberries out directly.
Oishii at a glance
Details
Oishii
📍101 Linden Ave E, Jersey City, NJ
Challenge
Like many premium food brands searching for reliable food delivery in New York City, Oishii needed a delivery partner who could be trusted with an unusually delicate, high-value product as the company scaled past what its own trucks and drivers could reasonably cover — especially for last-minute detours and time-sensitive customer windows.
Solution
Oishii connected its Shopify store to Metrobi, automatically booking a driver as soon as an order was placed. A preferred pool of drivers ensured delicate strawberries were delivered with the care they required.
Result
Oishii relaunched its Condor grade strawberries for direct-to-consumer sale with Metrobi handling delivery from day one, while gaining the reliability to expand from wholesale and press/PR deliveries into a full D2C offering.
The Challenge
Why did Oishii need a new food delivery solution in New York City?
As Oishii grew, its own delivery trucks — originally built around wholesale routes — became harder to stretch. Adding an extra stop meant either delaying other deliveries or arriving at odd hours; asking a driver already headed to Connecticut to detour through New York often meant a customer receiving strawberries at 6 a.m., which wasn’t workable.
Before trusting Metrobi with its own product, Oishii tested the platform by placing orders from another Metrobi-using merchant, a Brooklyn cake shop, and shipping them to four locations around New York City — evaluating how carefully drivers handled the product in transit and whether they followed merchant instructions on drop-off.
The solution
How does Oishii manage food delivery in NYC with Metrobi?
Oishii’s Shopify store is connected to Metrobi through Zapier: once a customer selects a delivery date and time, the order automatically creates a delivery in Metrobi.
Order placed
Customer selects delivery date and time on Oishii's Shopify site.
Auto-booked
Zapier sends the confirmed order directly into the Metrobi platform, requesting a driver.
Approve & adjust
Oishii works primarily with a small pool of trusted drivers who understand how to handle delicate fruit.
The results
What changed for Oishii's food delivery in New York City after switching to Metrobi?
Oishii officially relaunched its Condor grade strawberries for direct-to-consumer delivery, taking its first order on day one. Over the course of the pilot, Metrobi completed 71 stops for Oishii — 47 customer deliveries and 24 wholesale/press/PR pickups — with a 100% completion rate and zero returns.
The company ran the offering as an eight-week pilot, with expansion depending on both delivery performance and how much of the delicate, longer-to-ripen Condor grade the farms can produce.
In their words
Nick Daley is Senior Operations Manager at Oishii, overseeing the company’s direct-to-consumer and wholesale channels, including Oishii’s food delivery operations across New York City..
How are other food businesses handling deliveries in New York City?
Metrobi gives NYC food businesses access to a preferred pool of vetted drivers, automated order booking through Shopify, and the kind of careful handling delicate or high-value products need. Oishii, which delivers ultra-premium strawberries across NYC, describes it simply: "It's more like an Uber driver, but a bit more luxury — the drivers dress professionally, and the cars are well kept.".
Why should I choose Metrobi for food delivery in New York City?
Metrobi is a New York City delivery partner built to handle delicate, high-value products with the same care a business would give them itself. Before trusting Metrobi with its own strawberries, Oishii tested the platform by placing orders through another Metrobi merchant — a Brooklyn cake shop — to see how carefully drivers handled a fragile product in transit. As Oishii's Senior Operations Manager put it: "It's more like an Uber driver, but a bit more luxury — the drivers dress professionally, and the cars are well kept." Since switching, Oishii has completed 71 stops across 47 delivery routes with a 100% completion rate and zero returns.
What are Metrobi's benefits for food delivery in New York City?
For NYC food businesses handling delicate or premium products, Metrobi offers Shopify-integrated auto-booking (orders create a delivery automatically via Zapier, with no manual scheduling), a preferred pool of trusted drivers experienced in handling fragile goods, and professional, brand-representative drivers and vehicles. Oishii used these features to relaunch its direct-to-consumer strawberry line with zero delivery issues during an eight-week pilot.
Does Metrobi offer food delivery in New York City?
Yes. Metrobi partners with New York City-area food and beverage businesses — including Oishii, the vertical farming company behind Japan's Omakase strawberries — to handle delicate, time-sensitive deliveries across NYC, New Jersey, and the Hamptons, with automated booking .
