Proper Foods

"Proper Food is a fresh take on takeaway – offering delicious, wholesome grab-and-go fare. The made-from-scratch menu of sandwiches, salads, soups and Chef’s specials evolves with the seasons."

Proper Food is a chain targeting a very specific market, trying to offer healthier options in the fast convenience, takeout only space, to office workers.  Their locations are all grab-n-go, and, besides optionally heating up your items behind the counter, it is more of a convenience store model than take out restaurant even.  They are only open on weekdays, with breakfast and lunch options.

"We craft our fare by hand fresh every morning the only way we know how – with whole, seasonal ingredients sliced, chopped and seasoned with care. Nothing phony or factory-made. Just good, proper food that’s packed and ready to go."

But, the food is fairly fresh (packaged up that day), the menu changes seasonally, and the quality is higher than any US based convenience store.  Unsold items are donated to charity every night.

Proper Foods only has locations in San Francisco and New York, but they are expanding rapidly.  In SF alone, we have 9 locations, and I feel like I walk by a new one every few months.  The model seems to be working.

Layout

Spacious Interior.

Some locations are tiny, more like kiosks, but the location I visited was quite large and spacious.  They could have put in seating if they wanted, but, they didn't.  Just a huge open space with coolers along the walls, and a register at front.

The register is where you could order hot coffee (drip only), tea, and pastries only, everything else is grab-n-go.

Breakfast Sandwiches.

Most breakfast sandwiches are in the cooler, but two different croissant ones were also available at the register, presumably as they are the most popular in the morning, and usually people want them warmed up.  The croissants looked pretty good.

Muffins.

The only baked good, besides croissant sandwiches, is a single type of muffin, also available at teh counter.  No, you can't get just a plain croissant, which I found a bit odd.

Beverages, Snacks.

The beverage cooler contains a mix of higher end bottled drinks (Maine Roots, Boylan's, Gus's, etc) and their own housemade drinks (juices, lemonade, lassi, cold brew, ice tea).

In the morning, this section also includes chilled breakfast small snacks, like fruit cups, yogurt parfaits, overnight oats, and hardboiled eggs.

Entrees.

The larger section is entrees, breakfast sandwiches/egg bowls/frittatas at breakfast, sandwiches/burritos/salads at lunch, all packaged in clear packaging for easy viewing and selection, but, there is no menu posted so you do need to examine them to see what is available.

Food

Proper Energy Bar. $3.95. 2018.

"Goji berry, rolled oats, flax seed, coconut peanut butter, dark chocolate, dried cranberries."

This was an interesting bar.  Not a granola bar, not a breakfast bar, not a dessert, not a snack.  I don't know how to classify it really.  I guess, an "Energy Bar" is right, for post-workouts?  It is a firm but soft and mushy texture, and requires refrigeration.  If that helps give any context.  Its a rather high maintenance item.  And if it matters to you, also gluten-free.

There were things I loved about it.  It was very, very peanut butter forward.  So many bars promise peanut butter and don't deliver.  This one was undoubtedly peanut butter, and I loved that.  The oats were a good base, and the somewhat odd texture actually worked for me.  There was very minimal chocolate, just a few chunks here or there, and I of course would love more.

There was a fruitiness to it, from the cranberries and goji berries, that I didn't quite like though.  Peanut butter and fruit is a good thing (obs, pb & j).  But, this was just slightly not right to my taste buds.

Overall though, I think I liked it.  Good textures, particularly with the mix-ins, and nice peanut butter.

I had one for breakfast, and it kinda worked, but was clearly a bit of an odd choice.  I made one into dessert, topping it with whipped cream and crumble, which also kinda worked, but not quite as well.  And then I just had one as a post-workout bar, and that made more sense.   Finally, I had one kinda warmed up, I know these are a refrigerated item, but, I did let it get warm (oops), and I liked it more than way.  Particularly when paired with additional chocolate.

Proper Energy Bar. $3.95. (June 2019).

"Goji berry, rolled oats, flax seed, coconut, peanut butter, dark chocolate, dried cherries, sea salt."

I remembered liking these far more than I expected last time I tried one, more than a year prior, and I was again really pleasantly pleased.  So many things in it aren't things that really appealing to me (flax seeds, oats, dried fruit ...), but, somehow, these bars really are fairly delicious.

Most of the credit certainly goes to the peanut butter, a primary ingredient, no question.  The peanut butter flavor is strong, and I love it.  While I don't normally like dried fruit, the fruity dried cherries and goji berry coating bring out a PB&J aspect to the bar, and, well, that works great too.  Flavor-wise, its basically a PB&J, and that is not a bad thing at all.

Every other ingredient mostly adds texture, and, unlike nearly any other energy bar, this one has a great texture.  Soft, and does need to be kept in fridge or it would "melt" (word choice of cashier), but not mushy.  Crumbly, but not messy. It is pleasing to eat.

Proper Bran Muffin. $2.50. June 2019.

"Peace, Love, & Bran."

Yes, it really is called a "Proper Bran Muffin", not just a "Bran Muffin".  And yes, the description really did read only "peace, love, & bran", no actual mention of what was in it.

I really wanted a baked good, and the bran muffin was the only option, so, I went for it.  It was freshly baked and looked decent, although certainly didn't really look like a bran muffin ... it looked too blonde on top.  I also asked if it had any mix-ins (e.g. raisin, nuts) as bran muffins often do, and the staff didn't really know, but said they didn't think so (it didn't).

They offer to warm it up, which I accepted.  A nice touch.  It was handed over quasi-warm, certainly above room temperature, but only the very top seemed to have really gotten warm.

I don't have much very positive to say about the muffin though.  It looked far, far better than it was.  Perhaps this is why the staff didn't know anything about it, they don't bother eat it?

The muffin was a crispy top style, not too hard, although a bit dry.

Proper Bran Muffin: Inside.

As you can see, it really wasn't anything like a standard bran muffin inside either ... e.g. darker in color, hearty, grainy.

Inside it was kinda fluffy, not moist exactly, but fluffy, cake-like.  But not sweet like cake.  And not sweetened like most bran muffins, no molasses detected.  The base flavor actually sorta almost tasted like banana, although I didn't see any banana, I do think it might have been used for sweetness?

There were some slightly darker brown swirls, that I think were bran batter.  It had a hint of some kind of grain flavor.

Overall, this was just a shockingly boring muffin. No real flavor, and ... just not what I think of as a bran muffin.  Warming it up more, adding butter and jam, nothing really made it stand out.

Nutella Cookie. $1.95. (May 2019)

"Extra Dark Chocolate / Crunchy Hazelnuts"

I'm not really a cookie person, but I heard good things about Proper Food's cookies, they looked decently soft, and I wanted some form of dessert, so I also grabbed a cookie.  Cookies are made fresh daily, and come in 4 varieties: chocolate chip (regular or gluten-free), oatmeal walnut, and Nutella.  I selected the later as it sounded most interesting.

Calling this a "Nutella" cookie is a bit ... odd. I'm pretty sure it didn't have any Nutella in it, and, I imagine "Nutella" is trademarked?  Anyway, it was Nutella inspired at least, a chocolate base with whole toasted hazelnuts inside.

The cookie was decent, pretty intense chocolate flavor, reasonably soft, crispy around the edges but not burnt.  The base didn't seem to have any hazelnut flavor, just, deep chocolate, almost brownie-like in taste, but not in texture as it wasn't fudgey.  The hazelnuts added nice crunch and texture, but didn't give the "Nutella" feel really, since many bites came without a nut.

Overall, a fine cookie, perhaps even above average, but if you were expecting it to taste more like the integration of chocolate and hazelnut, e.g. Nutella, or to have any gooey components, it certainly did not.  I think a touch of sea salt on top would also go a long way in giving the flavor a bit more pop.

Oatmeal Cookie. $1.95. (June 2019)

"Cranberries / Walnuts / Hint of Orange."

I am not sure what struck me when I got this cookie, as I don't like dried fruit bits (although cranberries are a bit better than raisins ... maybe), and I certainly don't like citrus tones in my dessert.  And a healthy looking cookie?  I dunno.  It looked soft, and I guess I was in the mood.

It was a nicely made cookie.  It was soft.  It was loaded with cranberries, and truly did taste of orange.  If you wanted those things, they were certainly there.  I didn't really detect a lot of walnut, but I think there were little bits through, just hard to distinguish from the oats.  The base had a slight sweetness, but most of the sweetness came from the fruit.

Overall, it was fine for what it was, but, um, I needed to add buttercream, and quickly grew weary of all the cranberries.

And finally, the sea salt, the touch that sets it over the top, with a bit of ooph.  One note is that the dark chocolate kinda seems like a lie.  I haven't ever tasted, nor seen it, in my bar.

Now, I do taste some flax, and it does taste healthy overall, and it certainly isn't a dessert in my mind, but, for a healthy snack, or a mini meal post workout, honestly, it is tasty.

Drinks

Proper Food doesn't make any beverages fresh, but they do have bottled juices and cold brew.

Cold Brew Coffee.  $3.95.

"100% organic, fair-trade cold brewed Weaver's coffee."

The cold brew was Weaver's brand, and it was ... fine?  Not a particularly complex coffee, slightly acidic.  Fine, but not great, and I wouldn't get it again.

 **+.