LITTORALICIOUSThe Problem
You dock in a new port. You have 48 hours before charter. Your phone has six WhatsApp recommendations that contradict each other, a chandler quote that would buy a small car, and no idea whether the fish market opens at 6 or 8.
So you do what every chef does. You ask around. You drive to three places. You discover two of them are closed on Mondays. You overpay for protein because you did not know the butcher around the corner vac-packs to order. You miss the Asian store because nobody mentioned it is in the next town.
This happens in every port, to every chef, on every rotation. It is the most expensive and time-consuming part of the job that nobody has properly solved.
Our Provisioning Strategy
We are building provisioning guides that work like a playbook. One port per article. The principle is simple:
Work backwards from charter day. Finish early. The goal is everything done two days before guests arrive. That gives you a full day to prep, organise your walk-in, write your menu cards, and actually think — instead of running around town with a trolley while the stew is setting the table.
For a typical one-week charter:
D-2: Dry store, bulk frozen, meat, dairy, wine, spirits, specialty — one big run, everything that holds. Online orders placed in advance, collected or delivered. D-1: Fish, produce, bread — the fresh run. Morning only. If guests arrive late, this is your window for the best product. D-0: Nothing. You are prepping, not provisioning. The galley is closed to deliveries.
Two days. That is the real timeline for a seven-day charter. Nobody runs a four-day provisioning schedule — you are on a yacht, not stocking a restaurant for the quarter. Get the bulk done in one trip, get the fresh done the morning before, and never provision on guest arrival day. If it is a one-way trip and you have the luxury of time, aim for everything on board 48 hours before embarkation. That buffer is the difference between a chef who is ready and a chef who is catching up for the first three meals.
One or two suppliers per category. No more. The chef who has five fishmonger options does not have a system — they have a decision to make under pressure. We pick the one that delivers on time, to the dock, with product that does not require re-trimming. If there is a second option worth knowing, we include it. Never a third.
Freezer-ready is the priority most people skip. A supplier who vac-packs, portions, and blast-chills before you collect is worth a 10% premium. It saves hours of galley prep. It preserves quality. It means your freezer is organised from day one instead of becoming a frozen archaeology dig by day four. We ask every protein supplier the same four questions: Can you vac-pack? Can you portion? What lead time? Blast chiller available?
Agent markup on the table. Every port has provisioning agents. Western Med average runs 15–25% on top of supplier prices. Sometimes that is worth it — you dock at 14:00, charter starts at 18:00 tomorrow, and you physically cannot get to three suppliers. Sometimes it is not — you are in port for four days and the market is a ten-minute walk. We give you the numbers and let you decide.
Provision forward. Every guide tells you what to buy here that disappears at the next port. The Asian pantry staples that do not exist 200 miles south. The specific flour that is half the price here. The wine region you are sitting in that will cost three times as much through a chandler in the next country.
What We Want to Know From You
Before we write the first full guide, we want to hear from the people who will actually use it. The comments are open. Tell us:
1. What is your biggest provisioning pain point?
Is it finding quality protein? Getting reliable delivery to the dock? Sourcing ethnic or specialty ingredients? The freezer logistics? The agent markup? Managing crew dietary requirements alongside guest provisions? Something else entirely?
2. What do you wish you had known before your last provision run?
The supplier that was closed. The market that moved. The shortcut that saved you two hours. The thing everyone recommends that actually is not that good.
3. Which port do you want first?
We are starting with the ports where the most yacht chefs provision. The ones we hear about most:
- Antibes / Nice
- Palma de Mallorca
- Fort Lauderdale
- SXM (Sint Maarten)
- Barcelona
If your port is not on the list, drop it in the comments. We go where the chefs are.
4. Would you contribute?
These guides are built from real intel, not desk research. If you have provisioned a port and know the shortcut — the butcher who vac-packs overnight, the fishmonger who delivers to the dock before 7 AM, the agent who is honest about their markup — this is your platform. Every contribution is verified and credited (anonymously if you prefer).
Drop your answer in the comments. Your pain point, your port, your insider tip. This is how we build something actually useful — from the dock, not from a desk.
Which port do you want first?
Join the conversation