Mr. Farmer, meet Mr. Chef

Before 'Farm to Table', 'Farm to Fork' or whatever buzz word is being thrown around at the moment can become a reality there is a relationship between the farmer and the chef that must develop. We find it humorous that 'farm to table' has become so cliché that we are looking for new words to name this simple concept: A Chef sourcing local food. Well, sourcing GOOD local food.

The food The Chef serves has many stories. The story of the farmer. The story of the animal. The story of it's life on a pasture. The story of its arrival to my kitchen. Stop! How did it get to my kitchen in the first place?

One Friday evening at 6pm, about 8 months ago, right after I had to fire my sous chef, two men walked through the back door to my kitchen. They just stood there for a few minutes, not saying anything. I didn't recognize them and for sure I had never met them in my life. I was wiping down the pass after putting out some courses for a 6 top. Fridays are not normally a one man show in any kitchen. If they are, someone is not happy...and that day, that someone was me.

I ignored them as they stood there silent. What were they waiting for?, I wondered. The micros printed out a new order.
"I have some wild blueberries for you," the man shouted over the sound of the printer,"50 pounds of them!"
I said nothing.
"We're a friend of so and so...".
"Are they free?" (I was joking, kind of...)

I fired the appetizers on B1 and another ticket rolled in. I'm thinking to myself that I'm a nice guy but these two are really beginning to make me angry.

"Nope. And I've got some fresh local fish for you. The best. But you'll need to order at least 30# of fillets a week."

I couldn't make this up if I wanted to. I'll save you from the rest of the dialogue that included a few more things I needed to do in this man's opinion. I told them as politely as I could that they'd need to come back or at least call me later on down the road. When? How about between 2 and 4? Seriously. Or on my 'day off'. They started to leave and when I said I'd buy the blueberries (why not?) they blew me off and walked out, without selling me the blueberries.

Now, why would someone walk into a kitchen during a Friday PM service with 50# of blueberries on the back steps when what they really wanted to talk to me about was fish? We talked a few months later over the phone (me sitting on the tailgate of my truck on a beautiful Virginia spring day between services) and we laughed about that night he came in. He learned a lot from that encounter, a little of what not to do and more importantly, a lot of what NOT to do.

So why did he walk into the kitchen without so much as even introducing himself? Because he thought he had the best and only product like this to be found. But guess what? Not true. Chefs can always find it 'better' and cheaper if they want to. It's too easy.

Either way, I now serve this man's fish and he is a great friend of mine. We didn't see eye to eye that day and even if circumstances had been different I highly doubt his fish would have made it into my refrigerator. And I don't recommend his approach!

When is the right time to approach a chef? Well, that may depend on the chef. I can tell you that some chefs are not at all interested in you or your story. Some chefs could care less about local food no matter what the cost or quality is. You will never be able to deliver 35 whole beef tenderloins the way a big company can. You will never be able to supply 40 perfect shanks for that private event on Thursday. Or will you? The Farmer has a great vantage point and his guidelines are dead on.

I would like to add a few things:

• Do you (the farmer) know what kind of food I serve?
• Have you even looked at my menu? You would be served well to look at the prices?
• Do you know that I might do things to your product that you might not understand, like vacuum seal it in a plastic bag and immerse it in a water bath? That maybe I might glue it to Joe's beef? Or cure it and stuff it into a sheep casing?
• My time is limited. Sometimes I work 6 days a week and take calls on my 'day off' so I can get ahead when I get 'back' to work.
• Chefs have families too and most of us make a lot less than you might assume.
• Chefs think about food cost in their sleep. You should know how much your product is worth and be willing to back it up with consistency and availability.
• Do you know the market? Why does your product stand out among the rest?
• If and when I try your pork or beef or lamb, I am secretly hoping it will be the best I have ever tasted, but that doesn't mean it will be. Can you take criticism? Believe me, all Chef's know it's hard!
• Invite me to the farm. The first time I saw a pasture full of pigs I was jealous and thought I picked the wrong career! But it was just pure excitement because I'd never seen so many happy animals in one place. I love doing what I do and seeing something like that is an integral part of living and involving my life in it. My wife and daughter went with me...

Personally, I have a soft spot for farmers (thank you Grandpa) but that doesn't mean I can afford to carry your product solely because it's local or grass fed or 'organic'. I can't imagine I'll be finding any local olive oil as good as I have now (which is not remotely local)...nor do I think 'farm to table' is or should be anything out of 'Brave New World' territory either. Really, if you think about it, it's the relationship between Farmers and Chefs that are new. Passionate farmers and passionate chefs will always have something to talk about...even if it's not about business.

Working from 2:00-4:00 PM

A couple of weeks ago I had a local farmer spend a couple of hours in my living room explaining to me all of his frustrations about trying to sell his commercial Angus beef direct to restaurants. Unfortunately, his experiences are a case study in all the bad advice a farmer can get about the “local food revolution that will make every family farmer wealthy” and will “bring new young people into the ranks of farming”. Oh, brother!

Over the course of the next several months we will be following my farmer friend, we will call him Joe, chronicling his successes and failures, and sharing some of the stories of his introduction to the world of direct marketing his beef. But we are going to start with his first frustration, just getting a chef to return a phone call.

Farmer Joe has been to several workshops on the “direct marketing of local agricultural products” and “grass-fed beef”. He claims that they have been organized and taught by the State Department of Agriculure and the local land-grant university. Perhaps that is true. What I do know is true is that he had never heard from a farmer who had ever made a dollar selling protein off the farm or from a chef who ever bought protein direct from a farmer. But he was told he had to speak to the chef.

Joe had contacted a restaurant that was currently buying my lamb, and indeed they had been hoping to find a local farmer who could provide them with the beef they desired for a price they could rationalize. A good first, and lucky, start.

His first interaction was from a cold-call. He did not speak to the chef but one of the owners, the female half of the couple who also acts as general manager of one of their two restaurants. As a result of this first phone call he sent a sample package of ground beef and some steaks. Another good step.

However, this is where the story goes awry. From the farmers perspective he had shipped $100 worth of free sample to a restaurant and he expected an outpouring of gratitude and platitudes. Instead, he got silence.

A couple of days went by and he heard nothing. No “Thank You” or other gracious greetings. Just silence.

Joe tried calling the restaurant, asking for the General Manager he had spoken to earlier, and then for the chef, always to be told “they had just stepped out” or “they are busy and will call you back” or “they are in a meeting”. Hardly the “Thank You” he thought he was entitled to after providing them with this valuable “gift”.

Finally Joe decided he knew how to reach the Chef if not the General Manager. He would call at 12:00 Noon. When the hostess told the farmer that “the General Manager was not available”, Joe told her, “I know she must be there, its lunch time!”

Indeed, Joe thought he had answer – do business with a restaurant during lunch service.

There is not much in common in the life and schedule of a Farmer and a Chef. The Farmer has done 3-6 hours of chores and feeding the animals, had a pot a coffee and made breakfast, before The Chef even wakes up. At about the time dinner service is hitting full stride for The Chef, the Farmer is winding down and likely in bed before The Chef sends out his late plate.

A farmer finds it as unreasonable to be bothered by phone calls and emails before the animals have been feed, or the stalls cleaned, or the lamb-bar filled up with fresh milk for the day, or the hay is put out, as a chef does when in they are in the middle of their “performance” or service.

Thus, there are essentially two hours a day that essentially all business must occur – especially new business, trying to secure a new customer; from 2:00 to 4:00 PM.

This is not to say that a chef will return a phone call between 2 and 4:00. Indeed, if we want to create a few “golden rules” one would be “Chefs do not return phone calls”. When one does, you drop to your knees and thank the heavens for finding a gem.

It is the responsibility of the one who is trying to sell to take the initiative and the responsibility. But it must be done responsibly, meaning, between services.

First of all, personal visits are always preferable to cold calls, but sometimes that is not possible. And even then, the visits must be outside of service; before 11:00AM or between 2-4:00 Pm

A farmer should not interrupt a chef during service – it is their performance and their revenue generation time. It’s game time for a ball-player. It’s show time for the actor. Is service time for the chef.

Thus, the farmer may feel like they are making a pest of themselves by calling everyday to attempt to reach the chef, between 2:00 and 4:00, and indeed they may be. But if the farmer calls between 2:00 and 4:00 it shows respect for the chefs time and the restaurants business, and at the worst shows tremendous passion on the farmer’s part.

No farmer is going to make every sale. No farmer will make a sale without a chef on his side. So, the farmer must make contact with the chef, being as creative as you can, and attempt to have as much personal face time as possible.

If the phone is the only way to get a relationship started realize:

1) the farmer is starting in a hole to begin. It is harder to start a sale with a phone call than a personal visit

2) Never count on a chef to return a phone call

3) Free samples is the culture of the restaurant business. Do not expect a “Thank You” for samples – it will only lead to hurt feelings. The farmer will always have more passion and value for the products they have toiled over than the chef will.

4) If you can’t afford free samples to bring a new customer on board, you can’t afford the business.

5) Never call a potential client during lunch and dinner service

6) Don’t ever expect that the Chef’s ideals of business are the same as the Farmer’s or vise-versa. Chefs and Farmers come from vastly different cultures. Business manners will likewise be different. The seller must take responsibility for creating an environment that is conducive to do business within the customer’s constraints. The farmer/seller can always decide to quietly and nicely decide not to sell to a particular customer but it is not the responsibility of the customer to adapt to the seller.

We will be following Farmer Joe’s journey to making his first restaurant sale, or not, in the coming weeks.