| | Introduction
 | . | The foodservice industry is one of the fastest growing areas in the food business. One of the driving forces in the food industry is the demand for local or regional foods both as a tourist product and as a result of consumer interest in where and how food is grown. In discussions with chefs at events such as the Round Table Discussions on regional cuisine, Explore Foodservice workshops, and Finding New Markets & Partners for Your Meat Products in Foodservice it became apparent that executive chefs in white tablecloth restaurants were very interested in sourcing regional and local foods to feature on their menus. Many mentioned they were unaware of what products were available locally and which producers were capable of supplying the foodservice industry. |
This document will look at the results of interviews conducted with 15 executive chefs in the Edmonton, Calgary and Medicine Hat areas, from January to March, 2002. The results will detail their interest in buying specific local and regional food products; factors influencing their buying decisions; what premiums they would be willing to pay; purchasing problems; what product information they require; and how they would like to learn about product availability, volumes, prices and sources.
Background information
The 15 chefs who were interviewed represented a sample of independent restaurants, major hotels, city convention facilities and a catering firm. Contact names were gleaned from the Canadian Federation of Chefs membership list; Indulgence a Canadian Epic of Food and Wine, City Palate and the Edmonton Journal. They were identified as having an interest in regional cuisine and were presently purchasing some regional food products, or interested in sourcing them. An excel database of 70 executive chefs is available and will provide contacts for further interviews and individual follow-up.
Restaurant meal and menu information
The number of meals served by each restaurant varies by the size, location, type of restaurant (hotel, independent, caterer), and time of year. The larger hotel restaurants typically serve 20,000 to 30,000 meals or plates per month, while the independent restaurants serve 1,500 to 4,000 meals monthly. The restaurants change their menus 2-4 times per year, with the majority electing for spring/summer and winter/fall menus.
 | Chefs indicated they featured daily or weekly specials, often basing their menu items on what local products are in season or available at the time. In order to create a niche market for themselves some restaurants also feature signature dishes and theme or festival promotions such as "wild game month" or "celebrate the harvest". Short seasoned products are in demand by the majority of chefs for these events, however they have to be assured of a consistent supply throughout the menu promotion period. |
"I can buy anything I want. I control the budget"
an executive chef
Buying local"The philosophy of the Fairmont is to reflect local production and flavors"
Roary MacPherson, Fairmont Hotel Macdonald
Large firms such as the Shaw Convention Centre will support local product where possible. Their policy is to first source Edmonton and area, then the rest of Alberta, Canada and finally import if that is their only source of product. Fourteen out of the 15 chefs contacted indicated that their restaurants did support regional cuisine by buying local Alberta food products. The single "no" indicated that he occasionally purchased locally but that he made no specific effort to personally seek out Alberta products or request them through his suppliers. Ross Munro, Executive Chef, The Westin would like to achieve 100% of his menu items using one or more local ingredients.
"It’s not just about dollars. It really makes me feel good that I am supporting the
family farm by buying local products"
Jasmin Kobajica, Chateau Lacombe, Crowne Plaza
Price and availability of product were two of the main problems chefs cited in sourcing Alberta regional food products. Local products were often seen as too expensive, and chefs were unable to pass on the increased costs to their customers. Inconsistencies in supply and delivery were also cited as major concerns for the chefs.
To maintain their uniqueness in the highly competitive marketplace, chefs indicated that they didn’t want to see producers supplying the same products into the retail market at a lower price, as they can’t compete with retail prices. If a producer wants to supply both retail and foodservice they recommended having separate product identities or names.
"Product has to be available when promised and in the volumes ordered"
Simon Smotkowicz, Shaw Conference Centre
Factors affecting buying decisions"I want uniform size and quality. There is no room for variability.
Customers would be unhappy if the person next to them got a larger portion"
Simon Smotkowicz, Shaw Conference Centre
- Quality of products
- Price of products vs. value
- Consistency of products - size, thickness, weight
- Quantity or volume of product available
- Flavor
- Appearance & freshness
- Service & delivery
- Communication with producers/suppliers
"With a quality product I will have minimum waste, good shelf life, and consistency"
Ross Munro, The Westin
Glen Manzer at River Café indicated that sourcing Alberta food products was a challenge for him. Because he believes in supporting local producers he will put a lot of work into finding the local ingredients he wants to use. Price is the most important factor for the majority of chefs, but they were willing to pay up to a 10% premium for products they felt to be of superior quality, flavor and consistency.
Suppliers and distributors
Chefs are sourcing their food products from a variety of suppliers and distributors including national, provincial and local companies. Some of the restaurants are tied to suppliers who supply product to every restaurant in the chain. The Fairmont in particular has their own supplier, Chateau Purchasing out of Calgary.
Major suppliers:
- Markon (Bridgebrand)
- SYSCO, I & S Food Services
- Western Quality Meats
- Planet Foods (organic products)
- Avendra (meats)
- World Wide Specialties
- Serca
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- The Grocery People
- European Foods
- Planet Foods (organic products)
- Scarpones
- Full Course Strategies (mentioned for its one-stop ordering/supply service representing small, regional producers)
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Individual product suppliers
Produce: Pak-Wel Produce (Calgary) Ltd., Chapman’s Fresh Produce, A-7 Ranch, Hotchkiss Herbs & Produce Ltd., The Basil Ranch, Alexandra’s Natural Garden, South Edmonton Produce Co. (Sepco) and Canadian Organic Food Company
Beef: Centennial Food Corp., Cargill Foods, XL Fine Foods, Western Quality Meats, Sepco, Pre-Pak, Double D, Galloway Natural Beef
Pork: Barrhead Custom Meats
Fish & Seafood: Billingsgate Fish Co. Ltd., Fins Seafood Distributors, Classic Smokers Ltd., City Fish, Green View Aquafarm and Bow Valley
Poultry: Lilydale Foods, Sunworks Farm
Alternative Livestock: Rocky Mountain Meats, Hog Wild Specialties, Brome Lake Duck
Cheese: Eyot Creek Farm, Natricia Dairy, Leoni-Grana,
Oils: Highwood Crossing (cold pressed canola, flax oils)
Grains: Grainworks
Bakery (breads): French Meadow Artisan Bakery, Garneau Bakery
Fruits & syrups: Bridgeberry Farms
Organic versus conventional products
Only 3 of the chefs contacted specifically indicated they were buying any significant amounts of organic products. Products included vegetables, herbs, eggs, grains, meat (mostly beef) and poultry (chicken & turkey). The consensus was that organic products are too expensive to feature on their menus. Some chefs commented that organic products are over-rated as far as health benefits go, while others felt there was a lot of mis-information and no guarantees on organic products.
Developing relationships
All the chefs we talked to indicated it was important to develop close working relationships with producers. Some chefs like Jasmin Kobajica, Chateau Lacombe/Crowne Plaza and Ross Munro, The Westin are willing to mentor producers willing to work closely with them to supply products that match their needs. Once they have taken on a local supplier it is up to that producer to ensure that they service the restaurant account, keeping the chef informed of unexpected supply or delivery problems. Producers need to develop a reliable business focus, making it easy for chefs to contact them either through toll-free lines or cell phones with voice mail, and e-mail. Chefs indicated they did not have time to go chasing after producers if they wanted to place an order.
"Timing is everything in food service. Producers need to service my needs promptly.
They should have transportation and delivery arrangements in place, otherwise they
should hook up with brokers that can provide that service"
Dave Nicolson, Gourmet Goodies
Two of the chefs are buying from producers who are doing contract growing of produce, herbs and specific vegetable varieties. Chef and producer meet before the growing season and before the new menus are produced so that specific products can be included in the menu descriptions. Two chefs were also visiting the farms and personally picking garden products for their restaurant use.
Learning about producers & products"The role of the chef is to source product, but the more information about
producers and products that I have the easier my job is"
James Szutarski, Season’s Grill
The preferred methods include: (in order of importance)
- Telephone call & personal visit from producer - product presentation with samples
- Buyer Directory (annual and monthly during growing season) - what’s available seasonally, quantities, producer contacts
- Internet listing with links to producer web sites (as above - would serve same purpose)
- Farm tours
- E-mail or newsletters with producer information - sent directly to chef
- Trade shows - ARFEX, Earth to Table (one chef mentioned his firm would like to host an event with producers providing product for invited clients to taste)
- CFCC meetings - producer presentations to chefs
"Most chefs can’t live without their palm pilots and computers. They’d like
to have their producers on-line too for ease of ordering"
Simon Smotkowicz, Shaw Conference Centre
Point of purchase materials
In general the chefs would like to see producers come to them with professional looking materials that show they are prepared to do business. Price lists and business cards are absolute basics, but the chefs would also like to see product availability information.
"Chefs are visual buyers. Bring me samples to touch, taste and see"
Roary MacPherson, Fairmont Hotel Macdonald
- Price lists
- Business cards
- Product availability calendar or chart, delivery times
- Product information - variety, how grown, volumes, quality
- Ingredient list (processed foods, essential for allergy alerts)
- Brochures
- Tag line or menu descriptor - a few chefs indicated they would use this on their menus
Sources of food trend information"Chefs are networkers. I like it when producers tell me about other products
and producers or help me source new products"
- Talk to other chefs/use their own creativity
- Read magazines- Saveur, Gourmet, Food Arts, Bon Appetit, Art Culinaire, Food & Wine, Gourmet
- Attend trade shows - ARFEX, Food & Wine event in Kelowna, NASFT- San Francisco & Chicago, Bridge Brand & Serca yearly shows
- Association meetings - Canadian Federation of Chefs (CFCC), NAIT or SAIT
- Distributor/supplier newsletters
- Internet
- TV - the Food Channel Network
Food safety
Chefs are concerned about food safety especially from suppliers of meat products. The temperature on all meats and refrigerated products are checked before the product is removed from the truck and delivery is complete. Chefs use their own judgment and their impressions on how producers handle their products is based on how the producer dresses, hygiene and grooming standards, plus how their product is delivered to the restaurant. Clean, food grade packaging and delivery cartons are a basic requirement. Most chefs have heard of HACCP and would like their producers to follow it or some other similar food safety protocol, although they were not familiar with the On Farm Food Safety (OFFS) program. A number of chefs indicated they would like to learn more about OFFS through a CFCC or ARFEX presentation.
Products chefs are interested in buying
These will include products that they may have had trouble sourcing - finding a supplier, or problems with consistency, quality etc. The following charts indicate the current usage and source of a number of food categories in food service.
PERCENTAGE OF ALBERTA PRODUCTS CHEFS ARE
CURRENTLY BUYING
(graphs generated from Chef interview survey/ Jan.-Mar. 2002)
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Recommendations
- Develop a "regional cuisine" directory (Ropin’ the Web) listing producers, products, availability, and links to producer web pages
- Include a seasonal availability calendar or chart
- Promote site through direct e-mails to chefs - weekly or bi-weekly during growing season
- Work with producers to arrange farm tours for chefs to showcase products, production practices
- Contact suppliers/distributors to make them aware of local product available; work towards getting them to represent local producers to help reduce some of the delivery and distribution problems chefs identified
- Develop further educational programs for producers who want to access foodservice markets - ensure they understand the market place requirements and foodservice demands; work to reduce costs of production
- Work with producers and AAFRD staff to identify and develop potential food service niche products, value chain opportunities (i.e. lamb)
- Make presentations on regional cuisine and food safety (OFFS) at CFCC meetings or coordinate with ARFEX trade show
- Ensure chef specific product requests are shared with producers, commodity associations and AAFRD staff
Team members:
Janice McGregor, Project Manager; Yvonne Grabowski, Project Champion;
Betty Vladicka, Karen Goad, Rosalie Cunningham, Jean Wilson, Linda Hawk, Suzanne Tenold, Eileen Kotowich and Wesley Johnson
List of chefs
Roary MacPherson
The Fairmont Hotel MacDonald
10065 -100 Street
Edmonton, AB T5J 0N6 | Takashi (Tak) Ito
The Fairmont Palliser
133 - 9th. Ave. SW
Calgary, AB T2P 2M3 |
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Ross Munro
The Westin, Edmonton
10135 - 110 Street
Edmonton, AB T5J 0N7 | .
René Jaunin
Blackfoot Inn
5940 Blackfoot Trail SE
Calgary, AB T2H 2B5 |
.
Dave Nicolson
Gourmet Goodies
10665 -109 Street
Edmonton, AB T5H 3B5 | .
Dan Halliday
Inn on Lake Bonavista
747 Lake Bonavista Dr. SE
Calgary, AB T2J 0N2 |
.
James Szutarski
Season’s Grill/Best Western Cedar Park Inn
5116 Calgary Trail
Edmonton, AB T6H 2H4 | .
Glen Manzer
River Cafe
c/o 200 - 8th Ave. SE
Calgary, AB T2G 0K7 |
.
Simon Smotkowicz
Shaw Conference Centre
9797 Jasper Avenue
Edmonton, AB T5J 1N9 | .
Michael Allemeir
Teatro
200 - 8th Ave. SE
Calgary AB, T2G 0K7 |
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Jasmin Kobajica
Chateau Lacombe, Crowne Plaza
10111 Bellamy Hill
Edmonton, AB T5J 1N7 | .
Tom Rickinson/Scott Sprouse
Oh! Canada
815 - 7th Ave. SW
Calgary, AB T2P 1A2 |
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Chris Orchard
Medicine Hat Lodge
1051 Ross Glen Dr. SE
Medicine Hat, AB T1B 3T8 | .
Randy Hollands
The Ranche, Fish Creek Provincial Park
Box 2780
Calgary, AB T2P 0Y8 |
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Kevin Pudwell
Marios Ristorante
439 - 5th Ave. SE
Medicine Hat, AB |  |
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