Butterfield Market: Neighborhood Gourmet Grocer Doing Its Part In The New York City Pandemic

For more than a century, 105 years to be exact, Butterfield Market, a gourmet supermarket, located in the heart of New York City’s Upper East Side, has been immersed in its neighborhood. 

Located a block from Lenox Hill Hospital, Butterfield Market’s co-owner Joelle Obsatz wondered what it could do to assist the overwhelmed hospital workers when the coronavirus pandemic decimated the city.

Obsatz reached out to Lenox Hill Hospital, asking how it could help. After meeting with them, Butterfield Market decided to create its Feed our Heroes program. It donates meals to the hardworking and overworked doctors, nurses and support staff including janitorial, who are working tirelessly to treat Covid-19 patients.

Obsatz, who co-runs the market with her brother Evan though their 74-year-old-father Alan is still involved greeting guests, says making and delivering sandwiches was the best way to support its overworked staff.

“We’ve very community-based and motivated by our relationship with Lenox Hill Hospital, which is around the corner, Obsatz said.

Using word-of-mouth and social media via Facebook and Instagram, Butterfield Market spread the word that it was raising funds to donate meals to hospital workers. In about six week’s time, it has raised $211,000 to pay for these meals. 

“Once we started the word-of-mouth for Feed our Heroes, it spread virally,” Obsatz noted. “The money we raised pays for the food and staffing, covering the cost of the products and delivering the meal,” she noted.

Obsatz pointed out that recently a private donor came forward to match donations coming in for four weeks, proving that one good deed spawns another.

But it’s not only the affluent donating. Contributions range from $10 to $20,000, and most people give between $50 and $300. Some donors designate which particular hospital they’d like to donate to.

In fact, it’s serving about 5,000 meals a week, though it has the capacity to produce 20,000 meals. 

And soon other hospitals came calling, like Metropolitan Hospital, a city-owned public hospital located within walking distance of Butterfield. 

Currently it serves sandwiches to Lenox Hill Hospital and Metropolitan Hospital seven times a week, and ships 1,000 meals a day to Veterans Administration Hospital, and serves Harlem Hospital three times a week and Bellevue Hospital twice a week.

Obsatz says that each meal costs around $10 to prepare, which covers the food, packaging material, delivery and tax. Most of the meals are sandwiches, accompanied by fruit, water and chips. Doctors and staff have so little time to eat that keeping meals simple makes the most sense.

It’s been serving roast beef, turkey, tuna fish and vegetarian sandwiches, and can also offer breakfast (individually wrapped pastry and a banana). Sandwiches are easy to eat because most staff doesn’t have the time for a sit-down meal and there are social distancing limitations. Many eat it after their shift has ended because they’re too busy to take a break for a meal.

Obsatz said hospital staff can nibble on the sandwich, wrap it up and put it back in their pocket. “It’s the most economical way to be able to get the most out of our meals and reach the most people,” she noted.

When Butterfield’s staff delivers the meal, they wear masks and gloves, and after the shift is over, sanitize them to ensure their health.

Since Butterfield Market provides an essential service, it has stayed open during the pandemic. But it has had to adapt its business model. It used to attract 2,200 customers a day to the store and that number has dwindled to 300 to 400 walk-in customers a day. 

“We’ve had to accommodate more online orders. Now we have that pat because orders are delivered same day or next day,” she said. It also uses Mercato, an online delivery service for some orders.

And yet, Obsatz says it needs to keep the fund raising pumped up. She doesn’t expect the coronavirus to leave the city any time soon.

It has raised enough money to keep going for the next three weeks, “But we’re going to need more after that,” she admitted.

Why has Butterfield Market taken the time and injected so much effort to give back to the community? “We have personal relationships with all of our customers. Every customer is special, and we appreciate all of them. Most of our staff knows them by name,” Obsatz said.