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Sales to Restaurants & Institutions
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Upscale restaurants like
Restaurant Nora in Washington, D.C., feature ingredients procured
from local farmers as a hook to draw customers. – Photo
by Edwin Remsberg |
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Restaurants, especially high-end restaurants, provide lucrative
markets. Chefs and restaurant patrons pay premium prices for top-quality,
distinctive, locally grown products -- if they are available in
quantities that warrant inclusion on the menu. Some states and regions
have created marketing programs to encourage restaurants to feature
local farm products, and an increasing number of restaurants identify
farms in their menu item descriptions and in other promotions.
The challenge often lies in getting farmer-chef relationships established.
In some areas, organized sampling events have brought farmers and
chefs together to talk about seasonal availability, preferred crops
and varieties, volume, post-harvest handling and delivery logistics.
In the mid-90s, after receiving a SARE farmer grant, Brian Churchill
held an “expo” for 50 chefs from top restaurants in
nearby Louisville, Ky. “We showed we can produce the volumes
they need in as good or better a quality as they can get anywhere,”
Churchill says.
The SARE grant started Churchill down a path he continues to tread
more than a decade later. He expanded his “IPM sweet corn”
to 60 acres and sells that and other produce to two chefs, who pick
up their requests at the farm twice a month.
Another SARE-funded project in northwestern Arkansas organized
11 “All-Ozark Meals” at restaurants, delis, farmers
markets and other locations in 2003. Enthusiasm from the event translated
to more local purchasing by restaurants and groceries and a new
commitment from a regional environmental group to support farmland
preservation issues. Several chefs who cooked for the All-Ozark
Meals now participate in a popular competition at the Fayetteville
Farmers Market, in which chefs have two hours to shop at the market
and then prepare a three-course meal using all-local ingredients.
Strong media response has confirmed the value of farmers’
stories when it comes to selling food.
In Hawaii, a SARE-funded effort known as the “12 Trees”
project is combining new crop development with culinary expertise,
organic growing techniques and agritourism. Farmer and organizer
Ken Love solicited input from chefs to identify 12 tropical tree
fruits with commercial potential. Then, project leaders and volunteers
planted trees on a demonstration site where farmers and researchers
could learn about production methods -- and tourists and local residents
could come to see, taste and buy unusual fruits. Over the course
of the project, it evolved from a research plot to a tourist destination.
“This came about solely because of community involvement,”
Love says. “So instead of a university test plot, we have
an attractive public park complete with educational displays on
sustainable agriculture.”
As the trees come into full production, the Kona Pacific Farmers
Cooperative will market the fruit to area restaurants. Students
at the West Hawaii Culinary Arts program have been involved in developing
recipes for the fruits, which include loquat, pomegranate, mysore
berry, tropical apricot, figs and more.
“Everyone wins and benefits from this project,” Love
says. “Researchers have a sustainable certified organic field
for tropical fruit production tests, and chefs and student chefs
are exposed to a wide variety of fruit that they continue to purchase
from local growers.”
The 12 Trees site, located near the culinary school, was designed
for visitors. Self-guided tours with field signs highlight information
for growers and consumers. Two natural amphitheaters provide space
for local groups to hold on-site workshops on such subjects as pruning
and grafting. It also draws visitors to the 101-year-old historic
Kona coffee co-op.
Other farmers report success from approaching local chefs directly.
“It seems that every type of restaurant has its own particular
needs,” writes Jan Holder in her book, How to Direct Market
Your Beef (Resources, p. 20), adding that locally owned restaurants
are a much better bet than franchises. “Restaurateurs usually
want fresh, not frozen beef. They also want a uniform product. The
last thing a restaurant manager wants is a customer complaining
that last time he ordered this steak it was a lot bigger, or leaner,
or more tender, or whatever.”
Restaurants already working with seasonal, locally produced foods
might be most willing to work with you, Holder says. Providing weekly
availability lists can help educate chefs and other food service
personnel about their options.
Prospective restaurant suppliers should consider:
 Upscale
restaurants and specialty stores pay top dollar for quality produce
and hard-to-get items. According to Eric Gibson’s Sell What
You Sow!, growers can expect a minimum of 10 percent over wholesale
terminal prices for standard items at mainstream restaurants.
Most
restaurants buy in limited quantities, and sales may not justify
the necessary frequent deliveries. Growers should line up buyers
a year in advance and develop secondary outlets.
Call
buyers for appointments and bring samples.
Meat
producers can offer a variety of cuts, and even bones for soup
stock, but most restaurants will want fresh products.
Major
selling points include daily deliveries, special varieties, freshness,
personal attention and a brochure describing your farm and products.
When
planning your crop mix, talk with chefs and specialty buyers,
who are constantly looking for something new. Successful restaurant
sales depend on meeting the changing needs of your buyers.
Other farmers and nonprofit organizers are exploring the potential
of direct farm sales to institutions like schools, hospitals, and
senior-care facilities. Philadelphia’s nonprofit Food Trust
received a SARE grant in 2003 to strengthen farmer access to markets
in the inner city. Working with farmer groups, extension services
and institutional buyers, the group brokered marketing relationships,
matching farmers with buyers, bargaining for better prices and coordinating
deliveries.
Among the project’s successes was the creation of a “Farm
Fresh” fruits and vegetable option for people participating
in a “share food” program run by a state nonprofit organization.
That program offers discounted monthly food packages with a labor
commitment. About one-quarter of participants now choose fresh produce
that was not previously available.
Sales from farms to Philadelphia schools is set to top $200,000
in the first two years of the group’s farm- to-school project,
according to Food Trust staffer Patrick Gorman. A special kindergarten
initiative is supplying Pennsylvania farm produce for morning snacks
at 11 schools, three days a week. The project has nutritional and
educational benefits for the children as well as economic benefits
for the farmers.
Selling to schools can be challenging -- budgets are limited, many
decision-makers are involved, and many schools no longer manage
their own kitchens. But as public concern over childhood obesity
grows, new opportunities for school food programs are opening in
many parts of the country. Privately run schools and institutions
often have more flexibility than public schools.
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