The Farm to Restaurant Project

Kathleen Chambers

I thought it would be best to start this article as I do every Thursday with my introduction of Cook with the Chef culinary demonstrations at the Santa Fe Farmers Market: The Farm to Restaurant Project (F2R) showcases local chefs of independently owned restaurants who support regional food producers, whether they have direct relationships with farmers who deliver to their doors, or they come down to the farmers’ market, or they are part of the pilot distribution project.

In the current global food system where food is mass produced, sprayed with chemicals and transported hundreds of miles to get to your plate, I am proud to be involved in a project that counteracts this unhealthy mechanism and takes us back to a more community-based way of acquiring our food that respects the earth, the food and the people who grow and prepare it.

Like many others in our community, I make organic and locally grown food a priority in my diet; but when I go out to eat, I don’t want to have to throw those values out the window. Thankfully, as the coordinator of F2R, I know and trust that the project participants do, indeed, utilize local food in their dishes and stand behind their decisions.

According to Patrick Gharrity, Executive Chef of La Casa Sena, “Purchasing local food is important to me because it is evident our food chain is out of whack. I hope to reduce our carbon footprint and to support and boost the local economy.”

Marketing Campaign

Two facets make up the F2R project: the marketing campaign, which includes Cook with the Chef, and the pilot distribution project. The marketing highlights those restaurants and caterers that acquire local food. Each is required to fill out a simple questionnaire that is available to any independent enterprise that would like to join this promotional campaign.

Participation does not depend on the percentage of local food purchases or number of established relationships with producers, but rather, initiatives and commitment to continuous improvements in local purchases and consumer education. We ask about current relationships with food producers, how it’s working, plans to increase purchases, and what barriers they experience in purchasing local food.

Transparency and accountability are key factors to this project, so we ask restaurateurs for a list of growers and producers with whom they work, what they purchase, and how much of their food costs is spent on local food. While some report local food costs at more than 50 percent, (85 percent in the case of the Tree House Pastry Shop & Café) others are less, bringing the average to around 25 percent among all participants. One of our stellar local food establishments, Joe’s Restaurant, projects spending $60,000 on local food this year.

Actual marketing questions are next, inquiring as to a restaurant’s willingness to market their local dishes through the F2R project. Most proudly display the F2R poster in their window (or centered on the wall of their entrance like Amavi), place the logo on their menus, as La Casa Sena does, or on their website, as Flying Star does. Some even go so far as to display “farm cards” acknowledging the sources of their produce. The locally sourced products sign that Back Road Pizza features is right next to where orders are taken. Roland Richter, owner of Joe’s, has an entire newsletter dedicated to explaining his philosophy of why he sources locally, and copies of Omnivores Dilemma by Michael Pollan are for sale. We hope to see more participation in this realm in the coming years, so that this co-branded campaign can come full circle for more public awareness.

Pilot Distribution

The F2R pilot distribution was launched in July of this year, and we are now working with 15 restaurants and 15 producers who have agreed to a “value-chain,” standing order process to help establish this project. A value-chain is a kind of flow chart highlighting relationships, accountability, sustainability and trust, that tracks food from farm to restaurant. Its goal is not the lowest price or fastest convenience but the most embedded value for the food. (The low price/efficiency chain is usually known as a “supply chain.”)

This is being achieved through meetings, feedback, trial and error, satisfied customers, planning and more meetings . . .and a grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Yes, the USDA has acknowledged little old Santa Fe with the Santa Fe Alliance spearheading this project, and awarded us $98,000 to get it off the ground. This grant is called the Farmers Market Promotion Program, however, we are the only entity doing a project like this. Most other grant recipients throughout the country are just trying to launch their own farmers’ markets.

Working with the La Montanita Co-op distribution truck, we make deliveries twice a week to 15 restaurants all around Santa Fe; from high-end places like 315 Restaurant & Wine Bar and Andiamo! to sandwich and pizza joints like Louie’s Corner Café and Back Road Pizza.

We’ve had three solid months of the Santa Fe F2R distribution system with sales reaching a little more than $10,000 at the peak of the season. Unfortunately, this is not enough volume to cover the distribution costs at our current margins, so we will be cutting some transportation costs and going back to a series of stakeholder meetings. This first season was really a “pilot run,” a chance to test a new system, and most importantly, to learn from it. We really look forward to these meetings, as the future of the project will depend on the participation of both restaurants and producers. As Kim Muller, executive chef of Real Food Nation says: “I think the (pilot distribution) program has great potential. I’m sure there will be kinks to work out and some restaurants may be more forgiving than others, but hopefully everyone will remember the “big picture” and realize that this is such an important project to get going and it can be a great model for others to build on.”

In the months and years ahead we will refine the marketing and distribution of the Farm to Restaurant project and garner new and more involved participation from local restaurants. I, for one, am really glad we have project like this in Santa Fe, that not only will be a model for other communities, but will at the very least provide me a list of trusted restaurants that provide healthy food that comes from my very own community.

Kathleen Chambers is the Project Coordinator of the Santa Fe Alliance’s Farm to Restaurant project and party planner of Santa Fe Green Drinks, a monthly community social event for the environmentally concerned. She also is the Marketing Consultant for SIERRA magazine, the national publication of the Sierra Club. For more information, e-mail