Gothamist
A non-profit newsroom, powered by WNYC.
Gothamist
Listen Live
Food
Companies Discover Lazy Hamptonites Will Pay To Have Picnics Packed For Them
By
Nathan Tempey
Published Jun 28, 2015
Modified Jun 28, 2015
Share
FacebookTwitterRedditEmail
Never miss a story
Email address
By submitting your information, you're agreeing to receive communications from New York Public Radio in accordance with our Terms .
By
Nathan Tempey
Published Jun 28, 2015
Modified Jun 28, 2015
Share
FacebookTwitterRedditEmail
We rely on your support to make local news available to all
Make your contribution now and help Gothamist thrive in 2026. Donate today
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
For millennia, people have eaten under the sun and stars. Early on, this was a function of hardship, of nomads and people forced to migrate eating whatever could be killed or gathered. In recent centuries, starting in France, the picnic has become a favored pastime of the leisure class, particularly beginning in the early 20th century once cars opened up the countryside to those with money and a few hours to spare. Now, in the format's biggest innovation since, businesspeople in the Hamptons have tapped into the niche market of people sick of stopping at the deli on the way to the beach—or having their personal chefs whip up the same old macrobiotic salads—and are offering up prepackaged, farm-to-picnic-table lunches.
The Times has the exclusive:
New to the South Fork this summer is Hamptons Aristocrat, which produces locally sourced and organic takeout picnics. Lexi Stolz, 32, and Louisa Young, 30, its owners, work out of a commercial kitchen in Southampton and a refurbished 1969 Aristocrat camper to prepare and deliver the meals.
Now there's something the salmon-shorts set is sure to get a kick out of: a place called Aristocrat that serves food out of an RV. How fun, right? As if that wasn't woodsy enough, the fixings are served on wooden boards! Pretty neat, no? Hamptons Aristocrat and some of its peers in the burgeoning picnic-packing industry deliver, to the beach, even!
"You just turn your back and you're looking at Shelter Island in the other direction, with the sailboats racing and the fishing boats," Lucy Muellner of East Marion's Fork & Anchor told the Times. "You're relaxing, that's the whole point of a picnic."
A picnic for three from Hamptons Aristocrat runs $85 and comes with a grilled chicken BLT, a barbecue pulled-pork sandwich, a cucumber and dill sandwich, grilled corn, a kale Caesar salad, chips, and some San Pellegrino. But first you have to get a place in the Hamptons. Once you've nailed that down, there are all sorts of ways to commune with your new surroundings, such as:
Tagged
farm-to-picnic table
Hamptons
inadvertent satire
laziness
picnics
sloth
Nathan Tempey
Read more
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
MORE food
North African restaurants are rare in NYC. These 10 are the best.
Egyptian, Moroccan, Algerian and Tunisian food is delicious but underrepresented in the city.
By
Robert Sietsema
Published Oct 10, 2026
10 dishes that demonstrate the delicious diversity of curry in New York City
The global dish is shapeshifting and ubiquitous.
By
Robert Sietsema
Food
10 dishes that demonstrate the delicious diversity of curry in New York City
The global dish is shapeshifting and ubiquitous.
By
Robert Sietsema
Frozen yogurt is back in New York City. So are the super long lines.
By
Sonia Rao
5 NYC banana puddings as good as Magnolia's
By
Hannah Frishberg
Where to eat in Greenpoint, Brooklyn right now, from Polish to Sichuan to Iberian
By
Robert Sietsema
Never miss a story
Catch up on the most important headlines with a roundup of essential NYC stories, delivered to your inbox daily.
Sign upEmail address
By submitting your information, you're agreeing to receive communications from New York Public Radio in accordance with our Terms .