re: Interesting Farm to Table critique

I'm a chef. Worked for a couple big name guys some of you may know from my past posts. I also own a vegetable farm and in the midst of opening my own restaurant. You cannot be "farm to table" and not have a farm directly connected to your restaurant. Also, people do not know how to eat seasonally. They want strawberries in October and tomatoes in December. If you are a true farm to table restaurant you're forced to cook seasonally and stay creative. Most people are just lazy and flat out don't care. For me my biggest issue with the farm right now is other farms buying produce from places like south Louisiana and Florida and selling it in my city. It's April and we are already seeing corn, peas and zucchini. I think that is bullshite bc we try so hard to be diverse in our crops and grow for our region. Lots of chefs are so caught in the political dick grabbing they think they are doing a farmer a service by putting the farm name on the menu but when it comes time to buy they don't or bitch about prices. Every chef I know will complain about needing more farms and needing more diversity but refuse to pay what it actually cost. Most big name chefs are barely in the kitchen and their sous are scared to death to buy new product and put something new on the menu without them so that specific vegetable we grew for that specific chef is wasted. It's a big game and at the end of the day, our farm, has developed an attitude that if you don't actually buy from us you better not have our name on your menu and we pick and choose who we sell to. We won't do business with liars and ego maniacs anymore and we don't care how many beard awards you have.

We farm a very specific breed of corn, harvest, dry and mill it to order into grits and cornmeal on a stone mill. We have a lot of customers regionally and nationally. Our grits are different because the breed and the freshness. They have a specific taste and texture to them no other grit has. We have ran into restaurants buying our grits one time, putting our name on the menu then never buy again. So then people contact us and say they had our grits at so and so restaurant and they weren't that good or taste different I have make the restaurant take our name off bc they are not actually using our product. They are using a cheap inferior version which hurts our brand.

I have respect for you sir. You take pride that I expect from someone claiming to be "farm to table" and have repeated what I said. Support the farm, support their wares, accept the challenge of diversifying your menu, and think outside the box. A farm to table restaurant should have a menu that changes very regularly, if not even daily.

I've honestly had interest in owning a store like that. I think it would be challenging and fun. I also like the concept they have in Germany, IIRC, where they are zero waste due to no packaging or plastics.

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I've honestly had interest in owning a store like that. I think it would be challenging and fun. I also like the concept they have in Germany, IIRC, where they are zero waste due to no packaging or plastics.

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It's fun being apart of the growth. A former line cook of mine was hired to help turn produce that won't sell into soups, stocks and other food items they can make in bulk and freeze. He is certainly still learning the reins. I have to go in and help him at least twice a week but it's worth it. Teaching a young guy to think about food differently and require him to cook hyper seasonally. It's makes you a better chef.

The store itself is filled with only local products and regionally grown produce. It's essentially a farmers market. The margins on the produce itself is not very high. The gentleman that owns the store understands if he wants to be local and true to his mission he is going to pay a little bit more for produce.

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Always interesting to hear from a chef's perspective, hence one of my favorite F&D board threads from BocaJared called A Chef's Perspective. Seems like a really difficult, yet rewarding career.

I can't argue with that. My whole beef with the Farm to Table concept was that so many places are claiming it without even being able to do it, nor should they even try. After all is said and done, restaurants run on extremely slim margins. Anyone with a brain should be able to see that it would be hugely expensive to constantly change your menu and limit yourself to what a local grower can provide and when they could provide it.

I can't imagine having to deal with the troubles of owning a restaurant. People suck and margins are low but I appreciate a good experience and it really can make people happy when it's done right. Hats off to all of you guys who choose to do it the right way...