Sunday, May 6, 2018

Management Tips From Farm To Table Suppliers IL Restaurateurs Depend On

By Charles Barnes


With all the emphasis on organic fruits and vegetables, cage free and grass fed livestock, and supporting locals farmers, more and more restaurateurs are venturing into the art of creating dishes from local food supplies. Not all of them really understand what it means for them though. Farm to table suppliers IL restaurateurs respect explain that a commitment to this platform means more than choosing meat raised without hormones and crops grown without pesticides.

Dealing only with ranchers who raise pasture raised cattle that have not been injected with hormones is a good start, but it is not enough. There aren't as many slaughter houses or packing plants as there are ranches. Because of this cattle may be shipped many miles to cities that actually have slaughterhouse and packing plant facilities. For your menu to be authentic, you have to know these facilities are dedicated to the same standards you set for yourself.

You want to offer your guest sustainable seafood exclusively. You will have to avoid any that come from farms or insufficiently regulated waters. This means you will be relying on local fishermen to catch the seafood you serve. A lot of areas place daily quotas on some catches, meaning you may not always be able to offer popular dishes. Explaining to guests that you observe local quota regulations will become commonplace.

Restaurateurs have to build relationships with local suppliers. It is necessary to get to know the ranchers, fishermen, and farmers who are producing the food you offer your guests. You have to find the ones who are actually meeting your criteria. If you have good relationships with the growers, you will know when a crop is late or when warm water is delaying the crab season.

Even though the ranchers grass feed their cattle and abstain from injecting hormones, you don't always know if there are external factors that compromise the stock. For instance, there could be a factory miles from the ranch that allows runoff to flow into a neighboring creek. The creek meanders down until it reaches the level ground of the pasture where the cattle are grazing.

Flexibility is key if you are going to run an organic, all natural restaurant. You may have made provisions for changing you menus to reflect seasonal shortages. You might not have considered that bad weather will prevent fishermen from taking out their boats and providing you with a fresh catch. A dry spell might mean you can't offer a staple of your regular menu.

It's not uncommon for those in the restaurant business to expand into row crop or dairy farmers. It is time consuming to put down plastic mulch as a natural weed retarder, or to churn your own butter, and still run a restaurant. It's a real commitment to choose this over calling a distributor and placing an order the way traditional restaurateurs do.

Restaurants featuring menus created using local suppliers are popular with almost everybody. Customers depend on the restaurants to ensure the integrity of the food they offer. This requires long hours of hard work and a lot of flexibility and creativity.




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