This post was written in 2013. Please visit the Flavourly website for up to date information
Who doesn’t like receiving packages through the post? Much of the time we’ve made the order online and you know what’s coming through your door. The idea of receiving a box of foodie goodies each month instantly appeals. What will be inside?
The lovely folks at Flavourly sent me a box through the post to try. The box instantly appeals: “Wow it’s delivery day” is stamped on the box.
How it Works
Flavourly chooses products from UK independent producers. You pay a subscription each month, and all you need to do is clear a little bit of cupboard space when it arrives. Flavourly work closely with the FareShare food bank charity to donate a meal to one of 250 food banks across the UK for every box sold.
I’m of course very proud that the company is located here in Edinburgh too. Founder Ryan O’Rorke was recently shortlisted for the Shell LiveWire Grand Ideas award.
The Products
Open the box and nestled inside sit multicoloured packages. What are they?

A typical Flavourly Flavour Box
I’d come across two of the products before, the Peter’s Yard crispbread and Simply Chilli sauce – both of which are firm favourites. Peter’s Yard have two shops in Edinburgh and Simply Chilli are based in Scotland too. That gave me the chance to savour several more.
In the box
- Nims Fruit Crisps x 2 flavours – Definitely something I’d look for again. The “crisps” are made from fresh fruit with absolutely no additives.
- Chilli Sauce from Simply Add Chilli – The secret to this sauce is the added strawberries. Trust me this works really well.
- Artisan Crispbread from Peter’s Yard – The finest crispest crispbread you could imagine.
- Flavoured black tea from Love Leaf Tea – this was blueberry flavour. This was a surprise, whilst it had the flavour of some herbal teas, it has a great back note of black tea.
- Handmade Chunky Cookie x 2 from Oh Goodie. I asked Rupert who is a biscuit afficionado to taste this one. His verdict “Everything was good: texture, taste, sweetness, chocolate-ness and the entire experience was a joy”.
I also had a sample pack of Cambrook caramelised nuts, which were fine, not exceptional
Who are the boxes for?
It’s a great way of tasting award winning products from independent producers that you’d have to seek out in specialised shops and you might not have these near you. You’ll certainly discover new tastes and flavours – a great way to be adventurous.
If you want to buy more of any product, there’s a producer’s village section on the website, but it didn’t include links to all the producers contained in the box I received.

A monthly food box from Flavourly
The Niggles
I guess the one downside of receiving a box of goodies is whether they suit your palate or dietary requirements. Products are marked as vegetarian on the menu card included, but you cannot choose to receive a vegetarian only box in advance – a previous monthly box contained biltong, for example. Packaging is another issue. The cookies had been taken out of their original external packaging, with the result that no expiry date was visible. As to value for money, whilst you’d have to put time and effort in to source products, the value of the products in the box I received was £16 if you bought them separately.
- Crisp, delicious and good for you!
please e-mail me regarding payment as i do not enter my bank details into the computer. thankyou.
Fiona, You need to contact Flavourly not us. Go to their website.
Hey guys / Shona,
Just reading the above comments I am sorry to hear that some of you have had a bad experience in the early days of Flavourly.
Back in 2013, we were still a very young company with much to improve – fast forward to 2015, we are now over 2 years old and have shipped over 500,000 to thousands of happy customers.
All of our previous teething issues have been ironed out.
Best,
Ryan
Flavourly.
Unfortunately they don’t pay their creditors as well as letting down their customers.
We ran a vanload of boxes through to Glasgow for them at a hugely reduced price in early August and have still not been paid despite several reminders.
I am really sorry to hear that.
Be interested to know if you ever got paid. This compnay is currently launching a crowdfunding campaign to raise £116k and if they dont pay their bills then people should know. I have read a lot of very poor reviews about them, even though Scottish Enterprise awarded them £35k via the Edge Fund. See -http://www.crowdfundinsider.com/2014/02/31638-listing-angels-den-predicts-break-crowdfunding-record/
I’ve not heard if Tom has got paid. I’ll follow up.I’d certainly have my reservations in backing them.
Tom, Did you get paid? I do hope so.
Its a nice idea, but sadly, I DON’T advise ordering from Flavourly. Their customer service is abyssmal. I have had 2 problems with my subscription, and both times they failed to respond to on or offline contact. From comments on the web I can see that other people have the same problem… and apparently the owner is only 18, which probably explains the lack of service ethic! n.b I did receive 1 box and the products I received were interesting, but I’d rather have made my own selection (cheaper, more enjoyable, and no expensive mistakes sitting in my cupboard for years) from a farmer’s market or found out about new products via foodie bloggers online. I am still awaiting a response from Flavourly as to why I only received 1 box out of a 3 box subscription but hopefully I have blocked them from taking any more money from my bank…
Shona
Thank you. It’s a shame to hear of your experience. As you say a good idea but of course lack of good customer service lets it down. Fingers crossed you get things sorted