Graduation day is here, with Father’s Day right around the corner. Struggling with what to get Dad or the grad this year? Consider giving the gift of a local food or drink subscription.
The pandemic changed lots of people’s buying habits, leading to a boom in the subscription box industry. So if you’re struggling to find the perfect gift for the guy you love most or the young adult who’s leaving the nest, browse through this list and let someone else do the work for you.
Below are our picks for the best food- and drink-subscription boxes offered by Michigan restaurants and businesses. There’s something here for veggie lovers, beer drinkers, and those with sweet tooths. They can be shipped (or picked up) monthly, bimonthly, or quarterly. Note that while shipping or delivery is available for some, others must be picked up onsite.
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Detroit Vineyards wine club (starts at $70)
When Detroit Vineyards opened several years ago in the old Stroh’s Ice Cream facility, it was the first vineyard in the city in 60 years. The winemakers not only make the usual suspects — Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Pinot noir, and riesling — but also hybrid varieties. Wine is made on site from Detroit-grown grapes and fruit from around Michigan. Members of the DV Wine Club can sign up for delivery of three, six, or a dozen bottles of wine twice a year. They also receive discounts on wine, tasting flights, access to limited production wines, tours, and invitations to other events.
The cost of each shipment depends on which wines are being released.
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Mitten Crate (from $35)
Mitten Crate curates themed boxes using Michigan-made products. Choose from a variety of crates, like the Michigan Mornings box, which includes items like local coffee, pancake mix, maple syrup, and more. The Michigan Beer Lovers box includes a Michigan-themed pint class, beer mix, coasters, and bottle openers. Mitten Crate has discontinued subscriptions but you can still have a box of curated Michigan goods shipped to your door by ordering a different box each month.
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Grow Eastern Market Farm Box ($240 for 13 boxes)
Eastern Market offers a full range of farm and food offerings that you can enjoy all season. Boxes are available for pre-order and pickup on Saturdays and for no-contact, drive-thru pickup on Tuesdays.
Examples of what to expect in the boxes across the season: June: garlic scapes, strawberries, radish, greens mix, lettuce, kale, collards. July: cherries, tomatoes, garlic, kale, lettuce mix, herb mix, cucumbers. August: mushrooms, greens mix, french breakfast radish, onions, corn, heirloom tomatoes, zucchini, peppers. September: bok choy, acorn squash, pumpkin, carrots, greens mix, red kale, radish, garlic. October: red beets, onions, sweet potatoes, greens mix, honey nut squash, arugula, purple top turnips, cranberries.
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Rose’s Fine Food and Wine (starts at $10)
This hip Detroit diner has four subscription clubs dedicated to bread and wine (from $10). The emphasis of the clubs is on natural, biodynamic, and organic wines. Get them monthly, bimonthly, or weekly, and even add on a house selection of cheese, charcuterie, or chocolate to enjoy with your natural wine and fresh bread.
Boxes can be delivered or picked up in Detroit or Ferndale.
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Saffron de Twah (starts at $30)
This Moroccan bistro and Eater Detroit restaurant of the year offers three subscription services: for aspiring home chefs, there’s a monthly virtual Moroccan cooking class with ($50) or without ($30) ingredients. There’s also a monthly selection of pantry goods ($60) and ready-to-eat chef-curated meals (starting at $75).
Your monthly subscription provides a meal voucher for a Detroiter in need through the restaurant’s meal relief program: Saffron Community Kitchen.
Local pickup and delivery are available.
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Zingerman’s gourmet food (starts at $22)
Zingerman’s, the gourmet food business based in Ann Arbor, has been in the subscription business for a bit now. They offer more than two-dozen monthly food clubs. There are subscription boxes for coffee cake, rare olive oil, snacks, pastries, sauces, jam, and more. The bacon club just might be the best of the bunch. Sign up and you’ll get 12 to 16 ounces of carefully selected artisan bacon every month. Selections include Kentucky dry-cured bacon, hickory-smoked pepper bacon from Arkansas, Tennessee dry-cured bacon, applewood smoked bacon, and Indiana jowl bacon.
Boxes arrive every four weeks and shipping is free within the continental United States.
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Mongers’ Provisions (monthly, $135)
Get a box of cheese, chocolate, or charcuterie on your doorstep every month from Mongers’ Provisions. The shop also features plenty of bitters, cherries, and olives for those trying to stock a home cocktail bar. Check the full selection online.
Available for shipment or pickup in Detroit.
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Bunny Bunny (starts at $50)
A Chinese restaurant in the heart of Detroit’s Eastern Market, Bunny Bunny explores regional Chinese cuisine. Subscriptions include dim sum kits for four to six people ($125), regional Chinese cuisine for two, four, or six people; Chinese ingredients and goods, and savory beer from its partners at Cøllect.
Local pickup is available in Detroit.
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Takoi at Home (starts at $35)
Takoi, the trendy Thai restaurant, offers three monthly subscription options: wine (one, three, or five bottles; $35); four or eight creative cocktails (from $60); and the “Cookbook Experience,” which offers a “never-before-seen recipe” from Chef Brad Greenhill ($70). The latter kit comes with a recipe-centric meal for you to finish, with content and dishes from Takoi.
Delivery is available to metro Detroit and Ann Arbor, and is free within 25 miles of Takoi’s Michigan Avenue restaurant in Detroit.
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SheWolf cucina (or wine) box
The team at SheWolf Pastificio & Bar in Detroit curates a pasta kit for two ($80) or four ($160) people, and a local provisions package based on an Italian region, like Sicily, Piemonte, or Tuscany. You can expect a pasta kit like cacio e pepe or bucatini all’amatriciana; homemade sauces, like our braised lamb ragu, or pomodoro; regional formaggi; olives, olive oils, hot sauces; and fresh produce. For wine enthusiasts, there’s also a club that ships two (starting at $60) to four (starting at $80) curated hard-to-fine wines, or bottles from certain regions.
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Kiesling cocktail club (starts at $34)
Built in the 1890s, the historic Kiesling in Detroit’s Milwaukee Junction has had many lives, from café to saloon, to Detroit police force watering hole, and more.
Their Flight Club and the Cocktail Club offer a monthly selection of rotating cocktails, starting at $34.
Available for pickup in Detroit
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Miss Kim (starts at $25)
Miss Kim, a Korean restaurant in Ann Arbor, opened in 2016 as part of Zingerman’s, with cuisine rooted in chef Ji Hye Kim’s upbringing in Seoul. The food is rooted in Korean tradition and adapted to showcase Michigan’s produce. Subscribe for monthly feasts and cooking classes directly from Kim.
Classes and class ingredient pickup are each third Sunday of the month. Monthly feast pickup is 2 p.m. to 6 p.m. every second Friday.
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McClure’s Pickles (starts at $40)
McClure’s quickly made a name in the Detroit and New York City farmers’ markets before growing into an international recognizable brand. A staple item in chef’s fridges the world over, these gherkins come in garlic dill, spicy, and sweet and spicy and are available via a subscription. You can also get them with the McClure’s bold and tangy ready-to-drink blood mary mix.