Anyone sell fresh veggies to resturaunts?

Went out and ate mexican today. I was thinking how much better there homemade salsa would taste if it was made with fresh summertime vine ripe tomatoes. This got me to wondering if a person could make a buck or two if they had a big tomato patch and loaded up every morning and drove to all the local restuarants selling there products. Just keep driving to the next one till you run out of tomatoes, cukes, etc.

Maybe one day load up and head west and the next day load up and head east.

What do you all think?

[Muskrat]

Never tried it that way. My feeling is that they would expect really good prices.

Far better to my mind is to make the contact ahead of time. Take a representative sample of your produce, give the manager a realistic picture of the amounts you can supply, and set your price.

You can deal with what the owner needs. One local restaurant has a Big Burger, and they want tomatoes big enough for a single slice to cover the beef patty. They're willing to pay a premium for that. They like one of the striped tomatoes also.

One of the ritzier restaurants does a "Tomato Salad", three slices of beefsteak-style tomato and two slices of onion drizzled with oil and vinegar, selling for six-fifty.

We have "Big Orange Country", so there is a market for "Orange" tomatoes.

You have a tasty tomato, give them a sample. Fresh herbs, garlic, greens, new potatoes, asparagus, all are possibilities.

[sunnygrl]

i know the grocery store here in my town will buy produce from individuals... i never asked what they paid for them, i never have enough extra... i eat all mine... ... but i used to work there when produce was purchasing.

Forgot to ask, What kind of tomato would sell the best to a resturant? A type with a lot of meat, or a lot of pulp?

[Maura]

What type? Ask. It will depend on if they want to make soup, salsa, or use them for salads and burgers. They will expect you to make regularly scheduled visits and have what they need. When your produce drops off, you have to present that to them up front so they can go back to buying from the "other" guy.

[wewantout]

I think a good plan of attack would to grow several varieties and let the rest. sample them. You have the atvantage of offering them a premium product and tayloring it to what most rest. owners want. Maybe for a test run set up a few meetings with some rest. owners or buyers to see what they pay and if they would pay a little more for a premium product. As well if you do this idea you can get alot of free advertising from local papers and you could show the rest. how to capitalize on that. Maybe have them tout your name on the menu ( our toms. cukes or vegetables are organically grown just for us ) or something like that.

Our organic produce is provided by " the OKLAMATOE veggie company" hey thats a catchy name. We are working with a few of our investors on a project like this in LARGE scale. So if you need some help or info I would be more than happy to share it with you .

Cheers
Brett

[veggrower]

I have been growing and selling produce to restaurants for 18 years. Never any off farm jobs, just raising high quality produce and sell it direct at a competitive price.

I put in about 1000 tomato plants/year. For forecasting/budgeting purposes I figure a yield of 20 lbs of salable fruit/plant. Many years I do better than that, with my high yield being an average of 60 lbs/plant. Last year was an average year because of tricky weather--put in 900 plants sold about 18,000 lbs. I sell only heirlooms and I get $1.5/lb. My production cost is on the order of $.20/lb.

Restaurants are going to pay a higher price than a grocery chain would pay but less than retail. The volume with a restaurant is much higher. I sold my 18,000 lbs of tomatoes last year to 15 restaurants.A lot of people try selling to restaurants and fail becuase they don't understand that they are selling to a business. If you are selling to a business, that business needs to be able to make a profit off of your product. Many people are so proud of thier product that they price it way over retail and then complain when a chef won't buy it. I sell only to upscale restaurants and they need to keep their food costs in the 20-30% range.

If a restaurant has an item, say a tomato salad, on the menu they have got to have it. If you tell them you are going to be able to bring them 5 cases 2 times/week you darn well better be able to supply 5 cases 2 times/week of fairly uniform product. They have standards for you to meet because every plate that comes out of the kitchen needs to look the same. They can't have 2 inch diameter salad tomatoes on one plate and 5 inch diameter beefsteaks on the next plate.

Several of my customers have my farm name on the menu.

What to grow. For salsa and gazpacho soup they will probably want a roma type of tomato. For something like a caprese salad or a burger, they'll want a large slicer. Out west, heirloom tomatoes are very popular because of the richness and intensity of the flavor and the huge variety in colors. When you fan slices of yellow, orange,green, black, pink and red tomatoes on a plate with pure white slices of frshly made mozzarella chees and garnish it with green basil it makes a beautiful presentation. That is a key part of what a diner is paying for --presentation. I could stay at home and just slop something on a plate, when I go out to eat I want something for all of my senses.

[luvrulz]

We can sell to restaurants and the conference centers at the state parks very easily here but one thing you need to think about is they need a year round supplier. They can't just buy from you when your garden is producing, then what do they do when it's not?? Buy from someone else - who will probably scalp them on the price because the chef only buys from them when he *has* to cuz you don't have any..... That would be pretty tricky...

Kentucky even gives them a special deal on marketing and advertising produce and product grown here. It would be a great arrangement if you could sell to them year round!

[michiganfarmer]

This isnt fresh veggies, but there are a couple resurants around here who want to buy maple syrup from me.

[Ken Scharabok]

I've heard of restaurants with a 'seasonal speciality' insert into their menu. With desk top publishing now so readily available restaurants aren't struck with the same menu from a professional printer.

As long as you have the chef's attention, why not consider farm fresh eggs. I was at a conference where Joel Salatin noted at one time he sold eggs to restaurants. He provided them with a table card stand which said, for $.25 extra per egg, you could order eggs fresh off the farm. Made a dozen worth $3.00 more at retail. (I believe restaurants buy medium to large eggs for about $.50 dozen and Joel sold his for $1 a dozen. Now if you can get the egg production certified as organic, then it would be value added.)

I was watching one program with Emmiel (sp) (the BAMB chef). He noted he had one farm source for quail eggs and another for edible flowers.)

[ldc]

For RH et al, This is how i eat "out"; I trade Thai basil and 25 lbs of hot peppers for an ethnic meal for two of us! (sometimes cilantro) Works great! I've done this with 8 places in my town. ldc

[omnicat]

I sell to one restaurant, tomatos, several varieties. And I sell a myriad of veggies to a preschool which prepares lunch and snacks for the kids with organic food.

I had an aquaintance with both before I sold food to them. The restaurant owners, when I first called them about (because I was drowning in 'maters) asked for me to bring some by so they could try them - afterwhich they said they would buy any and all I could spare. Homegrown tomatos have to be better than commerically grown mega-farms...

I put in about 100 tomato plants. The restarant was interested in the paste tomatos, and then a variety of the heirlooms I was growing. They offered "A Study of Ohio Tomatos" on the menu that week.

Originally Posted by ldc

For RH et al, This is how i eat "out"; I trade Thai basil and 25 lbs of hot peppers for an ethnic meal for two of us! (sometimes cilantro) Works great! I've done this with 8 places in my town. ldc

Hey I like this ideal. I could go out and eat somewhere different everynight.


As far as offering fresh home grown tomatoes on a year round basis, I don't think so. The grass and weeds don't even grow around here during the winter, so I don't think tomatoes would either. I'm not about to get into large scale greenhouses. I don't have that kind of money. I'm just thinking of making a few extra bucks somewhere, or trade for a meal.

[Muskrat]

Originally Posted by r.h. in okla.

Hey I like this ideal. I could go out and eat somewhere different everynight.


As far as offering fresh home grown tomatoes on a year round basis, I don't think so. The grass and weeds don't even grow around here during the winter, so I don't think tomatoes would either. I'm not about to get into large scale greenhouses. I don't have that kind of money. I'm just thinking of making a few extra bucks somewhere, or trade for a meal.

Reverse luvrulz's idea. Find someone who is selling to restaurants and offer to supply him. You'll only get wholesale, but if veggrower gets $1.50 per pound and you get .75 per pound selling to him, maybe it would be a deal for you, since you wouldn't have to do the marketing.

Realistically, though, if you can only supply when everyone else can, it will limit your potential restaurant customers.

[Okie-Dokie]

Yep. Sure do. Got a good thing going with a small rest. chain here in Creek County mostly. Sell them all those little red and yellow pear tomatoes I can grow. Delivered to the closest cafe they own. They are more than willing to pay 10% over the wholesale delivered price that the nearest comparable tomato would cost them if they ordered it from U.S. Food Service Company. Thinking about perhaps growing a quick crop item such as cherry bell radishes as they do ok here and are a quick return on investment. This is of course only during the time they grow in the garden. I really don't think that you would ever break even growing them in a greenhouse, hydroponic environment.

[oz in SC]

The restaurant I work at buys locally grown tomatoes,they are hydroponic and so much better than the factory tomatoes.

Sadly we don't market them very well.

We also pay $3/pound.

We can buy a case of 'factory' tomatoes for about $17.

My oldest son is a chef..he buys from local growers..the ones who are:

1. High-quality producers
2. Reliable as far as delivery on time..THIS is a huge factor according to him..there's a great deal of prep work in that business..he doesn't want to hear any excuses of "why I couldn't get the product to your kitchen yesterday"..
3. Price..as veggrower said, on business-to-business sales if a chef can get high-quality at a good price he'll buy it..


A friend of mine in Alabama made quite a nice living growing garlic and selling it to various restaurants..he sold not only in Alabama, but in the metro Atlanta, GA area as well.

Thanks everyone for your replies.

Okie-Dokie, your from creek county? Your getting close to the big T town. You probably can find those restuarants that are willing to pay for good tomaotoes. I don't have it quit that good out here east of you. Most places around here are doing everything they can just to stay in business.

Hopefully this next summer I can grow a lot extras to see if I can sell some.

[Okie-Dokie]

RH: Yes, Creek County. West of Bristow & East of Stroud. You are right about Tulsa. I don't think any body there ever eats at home. I bet there are more places to eat on 71st street alone than in the rest of the state combined, lol. My town job there in Tulsa (driving a semi but home nights and week ends) takes up amost all my time, what with the commute from Hades added on so I just don't have any more time to devote to developing a market garden. We are up against the wall time wise right now. I think given enough time and energy that fresh produce when grown and marketed correctly would be an excellent way to suppliment income, but after I subtract my expences their is really not a lot of margin left. That's why I deliver to the closest of the chain and the general manager distributes the stuff as he makes his daily rounds to each resturant. He says that lots of people eat at his resturants because they can remember the old time pear type tomatoes fondly.

[GrinningPlanet]

It's a good idea to talk to the local restaurants and even schools (incl. colleges) to find out what if anything they are willing to buy from you. There are perishable items that chefs use that are best if bought local (i.e., herbs and edible flowers). Find out BEFORE you plan your next garden and plant what they would be willing to buy. But be willing to deal with picky people and sell your produce wholesale. Also, don't count on a long-term relationship with any one buyer. A friend of mine found out that the chef loved the produce but the business manager didn't like the price. Corporate grown produce was cheaper than my friend could grow at cost. Sad.