Farm to Restaurant Initiative
Illinois Stewardship Alliance’s Farm to Restaurant Initiative is a project to increase sales of specialty crops and locally
produced foods to restaurants by utilizing existing tools and resources and developing new resources to connect farms to restaurants. We are working to increase purchases of locally produced foods by chefs and restaurants; to educate kitchen staff, chefs and farmers on best practices of sourcing, utilizing and marketing specialty crops and locally produced food in restaurants; and to provide an opportunity to develop farmer-buyer relationships.
The project consists of several components including educating restaurants and farmers, promoting local foods through the “Buy Fresh Buy Local” campaign, providing technical training to chefs and developing opportunities for the restaurants to put theory into practice by facilitating a farm-to-restaurant series.
We've completed the first step of the initative, a survey of chefs and farmers, and are now ready to start putting on workshops for chefs on how to get their hands on fresh, local food. Chefs already working with local farmers and the farmers themselves will speak at the events.
RESOURCES:
Farm to Table Guide for Restaurants
ISA Presentation and Survey Results
Illinois Stewardship Alliance is seeking an evaluator for our farm to restaurant work. See details here.