Flavor, Quality & American Menus: Volume IV
Telling the Local Story
"In every company and every farm, there's a story, and these stories are what is redefining quality."
~ Alison Worthington, The Hartman Group
In a country where farmland is fast disappearing, locavores are on the rise. These activists believe in the merits of eating food grown or made in their region, and researchers tell us their ranks are rapidly spreading. In 2007, the New Oxford American Dictionary named "locavore" its word of the year.
Fine-dining restaurants acknowledge this trend by listing sources on their menus—letting customers know that the lettuces come from a nearby farm and the eggs from so-and-so's ranch. But the support of chefs with 50-seat dining rooms won't reverse the decline in family farming.
"The rest of us need to get involved," says Greg Drescher, executive director of strategic initiatives at the Culinary Institute of America (CIA) at Greystone. "Volume foodservice leaders and leaders in agriculture need to get better connected."
That's the objective of the "Flavor, Quality & American Menus" forum at Greystone, an annual invitational summit for high-volume foodservice professionals. At the fifth meeting, in September 2008, the talk was all about local: how to source local product for a volume operation, how to incorporate it into menus, and how to tell the "local" story to customers.
"Local is way above organic in importance," said Alison Worthington, managing director for sustainability for the Hartman Group, a market research firm in Bellevue, Washington. "People want to know who's the person making it, and where it's from."
Although some foodservice leaders may think their company is too large to participate in this trend, Worthington disagrees. "You can be big, and you can be local," says the consultant.
In the following pages, you'll learn how other large operators have connected with regional growers. You'll find ideas for menuing produce with the bold global flavors that consumers love. And you'll meet some industry innovators—leaders who recognize that change is key to success. Developing a dialogue with your regional producers to stimulate quality and diversity could be a huge first step.
"We read about the farm-restaurant connection in fine dining," says Drescher, "but we all need to be part of the future of regional agriculture." .
