If you are a Restaurant Owner, I need your help.

As you probably know, this past year was my first year at trying my hand at a vegetable stand.

Although I started the market late, I did pretty good and much to my surprise, I was approached by a couple restaurants who would like to buy my produce for their establishments this year.

I don't know how to let them know what I have and how much it will cost.

At the vegetable stand, things are set up like a grocery store. Either by the pound or by the amount, i.e., 2 for $1.00

I don't think that's the appropriate way to handle a restaurant when they buy in large amounts.

I've thought about putting a weekly list together and emailing it to them. I've thought perhaps sending pictures along with the product might be helpful to them as well. Maybe a description? But then comes the price.

I think a restaurant, when ordering lettuce lets say, they might want to know how many heads of lettuce are in a box and how much is the box, rather than how much is one head of lettuce. But then again, I've never done this and so maybe I'm off base.

I have lots of herbs for them and I don't have a clue how to sell herbs to them. Bunches?
Radishes.....by the pound or by the bunches?
Carrots.....same thing.

See? I need your input. I want to be fair to these people and at the same time I don't want to cheat myself. I want them to know what I have too.

Any help you might be able to give me would be most appreciated.

Thank you.

Darrell

Hi Darrell,
I don't have no idea about selling vegetables to a restaurant, but I do sell to retailers. As a general guideline figure out what it costs you to produce x amount of produce (including packaging and labor, etc.), and double that amount to come up with a wholesale price. The retailer will then double that amount for the consumer.

For example if you can produce 10lbs of potatoes for 1.00 you would sell them to a retailer for 2.00 and they would sell them to the public for 4.00. With it being a restaurant you could probably sell them for $3.00 by splitting the difference between the wholesale price and the retail price.

....and that's just my 2 cents for what it's worth. I have no idea if I'm in the ballpark or not.

Thanks Booswalia. It's a start and I'm taking notes as this thread goes along.

If worse comes to worse, I can always tell them they can come to the stand and buy what they need like everyone else.

You could also offer them a discount if they buy large quantities, and if they want delivery you could charge for that. There are many ways to do it.
From experience though, I assure you they will pay what you want if you offer them excellent service with a quality producet. I call it the red carpet method. Treat them like gold and they will share gold quite willingly.

Hi Darrell,

When we bought veg where I worked it was by the case with a count or by the pound. So let's say a case of iceberg lettuce, next to it would be a count of approximately how many heads were in there with or without the weight. In the case of beans there was always a weight with a minimum order. If you think they are going to order in high volumes you can give them a discount compared to your "regular' stand price.

How's winter treating you? I am in school for skincare/Esthetician, I graduate in March. That pretty much sums up what I have been doing. We did sneak in a trip to CA over Christmas. We went to Niagara-by-the-Lake for a week. Gotta have my Canada fix:) What are the big growing plans for the summer? cold frames? bean towers, more of everything?

-Kim

Oh Wow! Hi Kim. :) I have been thinking about you. I'm glad to see you are still around.

I don't know if you remember all the woods behind the trailer or not, but I had half of it knocked down and filled in with soil. I'm ordering 2 greenhouses. One to go back there behind the trailer, 20' x 80' and one for up in the front where I'll use it for the Market 20' x 50'.

Yes and no to the stairway of beans. I came up with a new idea I'm going to try this year for the beans.

As you recall, they were up in the air but I couldn't really get under them or do much with the underside of them. So, I'm changing my stairway a bit so I can still have them up in the air but able to grow vegetables under them as well. Shade loving vegetables or vegetables that bolt easy like Spinach and Lettuce. So, I'll have something that looks like a "layered cake" sort of thing. Vegetables planted on the ground level and then the beans above it.

I've also decided to add flowering bedding plants, herbs, and vegetable bedding plants. I only sold fresh vegetables last year and feel I missed out on a lot.

Winter here has been mild for the most part. Last week we had a lot of wind and rain. The wind was pretty ruff and as it moved north east toward Nova Scotia, it gathered more steam and ended up a catagory 3 huricane.

It seems like you've been in school a long time, now. I'll bet you'll be glad when it's over so you can get out there. Do you have a place lined up or do you have an idea where you want to go when you're finished with school? (Ware GLOVES!!!!) LOLOLOL

You know, it's because of you and the bf that I got these restraunt accounts. :) Remember you told me to check arouund to see if anyone wanted those white radishes? Well, I called one of the nicer Chinese Restuarants in town and they took them all.

One day I was bored and I thought, "Why stop there?" So I called a couple more places and got them too. :) It's going to be nice to be able to count on a more or less fixed income from them during the summer and then the money from the market will be the icing on the cake. :)

I want to be fair with these restaurant owners, and as far as I know, they've been buying some of their produce at the grocery store. The Chinese Restaurant guy told me that he paid $1.20 a pound for those radishes at one of our local grocery stores, "Sobeys", and to get him on my good side, I charged him $ .80 a pound. He bought all of them. He wants more things this year and I plan on growing for him.

I've got to take some pictures of the area in back so people can see the before and after pictures.

I'm really glad to finally hear from you. Say Hello to John for me.

Take care.

Darrell

I used to be in the food service business, as a restaurant owner/manager, caterer and manager in institutions (retirement home, care facility, daycare, etc.), so maybe I can provide a few insights.

First, you are not in competition with food suppliers or supermarkets. You can't beat these guys for price. Your edge is freshness, flavour and unique products. A tomato or radish from your garden will be better: a variety you have selected after trying many, which suits your growing area, picked at the peak of perfection and not shipped halfway across the country in a refrigerated truck. If the restaurant features your products for these reasons, you have good potential for a business relationship. Visit the restaurant, review the menu, taste the dishes, and see how your product would make a difference.

I used to 'cultivate' relationships with growers who could provide me with fresh peaches when they ripened and drive them in from the orchard, or fresh tarragon in June when the flavour has reached that special moment, or baby beets before they get woody. Mesclun greens picked by hand every day. Sweet! These are things that are hard to find for the discerning chef.

As for pricing, see if you can get a price list from a food wholesaler that sells to restaurants and hospitals, cafeterias, etc. to see what you're up against. They have volume on their side, and a huge system of purchasing, transport and administration.

I saw a TV show on one of the gardening channels (HGTV) about a fellow who did this but I can't remember the name of the show. I think the garden was in the Stratford ON area.

I hope this helps a bit.

I used to sell herbs to restaurants - freshly picked, by the pound - (oz)
ask your restauranteur and grow what they want. EG. a Lao restaurant wanted a particular kind of mint so.... I grew it for her. Diff. basils too. You are early enough in the season to start seed. I used to always throw in a handful of viola blossoms too. Presentation is the thing. Very clean. Snipped with scissors, no mud. I didn't wash them as they kept better unwashed. Would pick very very early in the AM.
Inanda

Andycdn,

Thank you for the information.
I wondered about the viola. I put it on my list to order, took it off the list, put it back on the list, and ended up taking it back off completely thinking I might be making a mistake and since I have limited space, I justified my thinking. NOW, I'm putting viola back on the list. LOL

I "do" have access to a wholesale produce price list that I get via email every thursday morning from one of the local Food Chains. I don't think I can go that low on prices though. I'm amazed at some of the produce the grocery stores put on the shelf sometimes. I've seen "mold", dehydrated vegetables, yellow and wilted leaves, (spiniach), and so on.

I am thinking if they buy $400.00 in vegetables, I'd give them free delivery. Or do you think that is too much? Anything less than that, I'd have to charge $20.00. Since I'm not the one that delivers, personally, I have to hire someone to do it.

Inanda,

I have a small list of Herbs I'm going to grow for these people, but some of it won't be ready for a couple years. Chives, for example.

Here are some of the herbs:
Basil - Rubin
Chives - Regular
Chives - Garlic
Coriander/Cilantro
Parsley - Italian Broad Flat Leaf
Parsley - Curly Leaf
Rosemary
Tarragon, French
Thyme - English
Thyme - Golden Lemon

I'd really like it if I could grow and sell any of this during the winter months. Not knowing much about herbs though, this catagory is sort of, "playing it by ear" for a while.

I wish these restaurants were more helpful. I mean, I called them and they said yes they would like vegetables from me this coming season. When I asked them what they'd like, they sort of stumbled around for an answer. One of them told me a lot, the other two, only told me a couple things.

Somehow, I've got to get them to know what I have available or plan on having available and see if there isn't something more I can do for them or less, as the case may be.

I have a phone number for them, and one Fax number. No email address. They were hesitant on giving me an email address I guess. I suppose I could type out a letter and Fax it to them every time I want to touch base with them. Sort of a pain to do that all the time though.

I think you're talking to the wrong restaurants if that's the response you get. A real chef would grab you by the hand, drag you into his office and grill you on what you can provide him. It sounds like the ones you've approached are just thinking of you as yet another supplier, not a special resource.

You must be reading my mind Andy. I just got off the phone with one of the restaurants and I have to tell you, it wasn't exciting.

It was a Chinese Restaurant. Last year he bought all my radishes, "Dhaicon" (sp)....anyway, they were chinese radishes. He loved them. He told me he paid $1.10 a pound at the grocery store and I charged him $ .80 a pound and threw in 5 extra pounds, which made it $ .67 a pound. He told me he wanted 4 other things this year and asked me to supply him. I said ok and I ordered the seeds.

Today, he is in the frame of mind that:
He can buy Sweet Bell Peppers, Broccoli, Carrots, Sno-Pea's, Sprouts, etc., cheaper at the store. So, I don't need to grow anything for him other than what he asked me to grow last year.

I have to tell you, I know for a fact, that my Broccoli, Carrots, and everything else tastes so much better than what the grocery store puts out. I charged him way less than what he would have normally paid and then turn around and not buy more from me. Sort of blows my mind.

I don't know about you, but when I'm cooking, I like "Good" things in my food. If I had a choice between fresh and store, I'd buy fresh. Maybe I can't afford to do that all the time here at home, but if my business was feeding people, like in a restaurant, I'd be using the best of everything.

What I think might be happening is they are trying to find a good source for their produce at a cheap price. They're going to find out I don't bend. Well, I bend, but not under circumstances like this. Take it or I compost it, is my motto.

This message was edited Jan 27, 2006 2:16 PM

You're absolutely right. Don't bother with this guy or his ilk. Your best customers will be ones who appreciate the special qualities of your products, not a cheaper price.

More thoughts:

I am not going to lower my prices. I charge what the grocery stores charge and in some cases, I charge less.

My produce is excellent produce. It is all grown in compost, manure, and never ever will you ever see me put anything on my vegetable garden that isn't organic. Not even pesticide. I use soapy water, friendly bugs, remove them by hand, or I yank them out.

I just don't get it.

If a restaurant in town was a 3 Star Restaurant, I'd help them become a 4 Star. If it was a 4 Star, I'd help them become a 5 Star. My produce is that good and I know it. If you tasted it, you'd agree. Ask Kim or John in the above post. They had some of my beans. They know how good it is, they were here. Heck, they even picked the beans themselves. LOL (God love 'em, they're both very special people.)

I don't know what to think. Maybe it's because I picked up the phone book and just randomly picked out a couple restaurants to call from the Yellow Pages. Maybe I should go around town and visit different restaurants and hand them a flyer that says, "If you aren't a 5 Star Restaurant, maybe I can help."

I love success and if I can make a difference in someone else¡¦s business, like these restaurants, I'd be so happy. But they've got to know me and they've got to treat me nice. What I mean by nice is, they have to at least know I'm there for them and treat me descent.

Another restaurant that I was in contact with last year told me today that they have someone they have been buying from. I said, "Oh, well, I don't want to infringe on someone else." The guy said, "No, I'm still interested and would like to try you out with a few things". I said, "Who are you buying from"¨ He didn't know for sure who it was. He didn't know for sure where they were from either. He did say something about prices though.

I guess it all boils down to how cheap you are. What a deal. I can understand it to a point, but this is overboard for my little mind.


This message was edited Jan 27, 2006 3:01 PM

Darrell - It sounds like you have been working ever since I saw you! I am curious about your comment on growing chives - a year or more? I don't find them hard to grow and they are cut and come again and I take a clump out of clump and start another clump - I know you understand all that:)

I am drooling over your greenhouses - it is going to be a regular little farm by the time I get back to visit. What about faxing a list of available products on a weekly basis with some phone follow up? Some vendors will just call once a week to see if the restaurant would like to place an order. This works well if the chef already knows you and/or your product.

How is the cat population, diminishing I hope!

Here is the one of Darrell and me and the giant Daikon radish for those of you who missed the post over the summer.

Hugs - Kim

LOL

What a picture! I think I need to eat more vegetables and less starch! and what an ugly curled up face I'm made. LOL I know, the sun was on my chubby cheeks and the sun glared of them into my eyes. LOL You look fantastic though.

No More Pictures.....J...O...H...N !!!!! LOL

Woo Hoo. Thank Kim. I needed that.

With this selling thing to the restaurants........
I've decided that the restaurants I've contacted and who have said they would like my produce this year, I'm going to do just that, Kim. I'll Fax them a list along with Market Prices, "not" what I would charge them if they had set up an account with me.

Lets say I picked 50 pounds of Beans on Monday and I knew I'd only sell 40 pounds. I'll send a pound to each of the restraunts so they can cook them for themselves. They'll see that the produce is excellant.

I got to thinking later yesterday about the comment the guy made on the phone about getting his produce at the grocery store because it was cheaper. "How would he know he can get it cheaper? He's never bought anything else here at the market. He's never been to my market. He doesn't know what I grow or what I don't grow. He doesn't know what my prices are.

Chives......well, from what I've read, if I plant chive seeds now, they won't be large enough to cut this year. The second year of growth I'll be able to cut a little, but not much. It isn't till the third year that I can actually do any serious cutting from the plants.

I hope I can do all the things I wanted to do this second year of the market.

Darrell