Tom Janes, Director of Sustainability, discussing sustainable fish with attendees of the Green Living Show (Toronto May 2011)

A Sustainable Fish on Every Table

By Dana McCauley

Since last spring when I started to work for a food manufacturer, I’ve received quite a bit of criticism from people who accuse me of selling out and abandoning the true and noble culinary path. Although I won’t say it doesn’t bother me, I can say that in the main I’m pretty proud of my decision. After all when I was a food writer, I was often preaching to the converted minority who already understood food sustainability, the importance of good nutrition and the joy of home cooking. Now that I work as an innovator for the manufacturer of Canada’s #1 selling frozen chicken product (Janes Pub Style chicken) I have greater opportunity to change the way Canadians eat than ever before. Instead of having thousands of readers, I have an audience of many millions of people who buy Janes products.

One of the factors that encouraged me join Janes over another food company was the commitment we share to the environment. In the early 1990s, long before other companies started exploring ways to add  ‘green’ elements to their brands, Janes launched recycled retail packaging. Today – just in time for World Ocean’s Day on June 8^th – Janes’ pioneering efforts continue as we commit to source only certified sustainable fish.

This move makes Janes not just the first Canadian company but the first North American company to have the Marine Stewardship Council (MSC) certification for all of their fish products. While this may not sound like such a big deal to city dwellers who dine regularly at great restaurants where the chefs source sustainable seafood, it’s very meaningful for many Canadians who haven’t had access to sustainable seafood products before. Now, no matter how remotely Canadians live, they can serve their families certified sustainable seafood without having to go to fancy restaurant or a specialty store to get it.

This is a big step. According to the Direct Link Menu Database that tracks the menu details of Canada’s most influential restaurants, fish accounts for 30% of the sustainable items noted on high-end Canadian menus. While these restaurants are off to a great start, their efforts just aren’t enough to make the impact necessary to turn around the situation in our oceans. Sources such as Ocean Wise note that “90% of all large, predatory fish are already gone from the world’s oceans” which means that the situation is dire. As a result, we hope that making sustainable seafood the norm on home dinner plates and fish and chip platters ordered at the pub, that we’re complimenting the efforts of gourmet chefs and taking steps toward making sustainable seafood an everyday part of Canadian life.

So, while I might not get to toss around truffles at work any longer and I may spend the odd afternoon evaluating the sensory profiles of various chicken nugget formulations instead of discussing the terroir of pinot noir from Oregon versus Burgundy, I feel pretty good about being part of change on larger scale. A year after leaving my food writing career for the corporate food world, instead of just telling people to choose sustainable seafood, I’m actually part of the team giving them an affordable way to buy it and share it with their families whenever they like. And you know what? That’s a pretty satisfying!

Happy World Oceans Day!

Dana McCauley is the Culinary Director at Janes Family Foods where she leads new product innovation.

On March 1st, more than 400 chefs, food writers, food and beverage experts, restaurateurs and leaders in the hospitality field gathered at the Terroir Symposium in Toronto. While sessions ranged from steak tasting to social media, branding to (not surprisingly) terroir, the day opened with The Art of Hospitality. Chris McDonald of Toronto’s Cava Restaurant started the session with an informative and visually impressive presentation on restaurant trends. The “fireside chat” portion came from Craig Flinn of Chives Canadian Bistro in Halifax.

Flinn told the story of Chives in hopes of inspiring young, cash-strapped chefs. He made no promises, but instead explained the strategies and philosophy that worked for him. For those who couldn’t attend, here are the main points from Craig Flinn’s enlightening and humorous talk.

Background: Flinn loved good food and wine but not the pretense and expense of fine dining. To bridge the huge gap between high-end restaurants and the family diner, he opened a neighbourhood bistro that embraced high quality local ingredients from the Annapolis Valley, a growing winery scene, and artisan food. He also wanted to address the public’s needs, which included targeting students on a budget and people on time restraints wanting a quick bite before the movie. So Chives was conceived.

Today: Ten years in, Chives is doing well and Flinn has seen “a big shift in other restaurants to move towards the middle.”

Flinn on Building a Neighbourhood Bistro

• Remove the pretense. Chives has no linens, expensive cutlery, high-end microfiber chairs or costly printed menus. Flinn puts local art on the walls, posts a chalkboard menu — and his chairs? From Sears.

• Food and service before wine and ambiance: Flinn says educating your staff is a low cost way to improve the dining experience. Wine and decor are expensive, but if you provide good food, people will come. If they have a question, your informed staff will know the answer.

• Price just under the top: Flinn doesn’t price dishes based on food costs. Instead, he keeps prices below the top 5 restaurants in Halifax and crafts a menu $2 to $4 less on every item. If their soup is $12 his is $8.

• Push expectations: If an item isn’t being ordered, give customers a taste for free. The next visit, they might order it.

• Promote “Canadianness”: Although Flinn uses local ingredients from local farmers, he also embraces the culture of the region — Acadian dishes, French pates, Italian charcuterie — giving traditional European fare a Nova Scotian feel.

• Hold off on the advertising: Print, TV and radio are expensive and can easily eat up your meager profits. Initially, Flinn chose not to advertise, putting only his phone number in the Yellow Pages. In lieu of advertising, he focused on the community. He “earned media” by being present in the community, giving back, offering tastes, taking staff along to events. “Getting yourself out into the community builds more loyalty than advertising or 2 for 1 coupons,” he says. Of course, there is a time for branding and logos, but that comes later. Flinn began advertising on local radio recently.

• Have something people buy into: Flinn was concerned Chives was becoming a special occasion restaurant with clients coming only for birthdays and anniversaries. To counteract this he got involved in more youth events. Now Chives has a broad demographic of regular clients ranging from 25 to 65+.

• Local, local, local not location, location, location: Food trumps location. With the advent of Google maps Flinn says any restaurant can be found. In fact, a hidden location might even be a bonus since the public likes a secret and seeking you out makes diners feel like they’re going to a “real place.”  His proof? Chives first opened on a dark street just two doors down from a “massage parlour” —  but that didn’t prevent clientele from coming.

• Food is the prize: You can’t have long-term business without service and food.

If you have any points to add about growing a restaurant, we’d love to hear from you. Or if you attended the Terroir Symposium and wish to comment on other events, drop by the comments section. It never closes.

Photo © waferboard. Published under a Creative Commons License.

-When foraging plants, remember the general etiquette: know your plants, and know about their life cycle.  Never take more than the plant can quickly regenerate within a year.  Some of my personal recommendations include not taking more than one or two fiddles per well established fern. I never taking more than 1/4 of the mushrooms I find (even if it breaks my heart), and I leave some fruits (1/10) on the wild raspberries, strawberries, and other fruit-bearing plants I find.

-Know your plants also takes a different perspective.  If you aren’t 100% certain that you have identified your plant correctly, then don’t eat it. There are plenty of toxic plants out there that could cause serious damage.  Learn from an experienced forager who is willing to share his or her craft.

-Don’t forage on private property or in protected parkland. That’s just common sense.

-If it’s generally considered a weed, then eat your heart out. Garlic mustard, dandelions, burdock, chrysanthemum greens, lambs quarters, purslane, amaranth, take as much as you want.  Someone might even thank you.

-Remember that some foraged plants are considered threatened, endangered or vulnerable species. Canadian laws in different jurisdictions may protect against harvesting certain species, including American ginseng, goldenseal, spotted wintergreen, prickly pear cactus, red mulberry, wild ginger, and wild leeks.  Before you harvest, make sure you check your regional conservation authority for local regulations for foraging plants.

Have fun, and enjoy the harvest!

————————————-

Posted by Amy Proulx, who harvested those wild leeks legally, sustainably, and with permission.

Photo: Amy Proulx

Restaurants and retailers are building new, direct relationships with farmers and food producers.

Today, many restaurants showcase local, Canadian products.  While sourcing these  products is becoming more of a main stream industry with typical wholesale marketing, building direct marketing chains between food producers and restaurants or other retail markets is a real boon for both the agricultural industry and retailers.  Producers retain value on their product, while restauranteurs or retailers have the direct link, and the real story behind the product. All this helps meet increasing consumer demand for fresh, unique and local products.

In the spirit of building successful relationships between farmers and retailers, I’ve spoken with some people who have already built successful partnerships in the sector.

To launch this series, I talked to Donald Bowyer, Assistant Farmer in charge of marketing and logistics, at Ignatius Farm Community Shared Agriculture (CSA) in Guelph, Ontario, for his first hand perspective on building successful working relationships between the farm and their restaurant partners.

AP: How do you build a strong working relationship as a farm supplying restaurants?  How did you get started with this initiative?

DB: I can’t speak too much myself to how the restaurant end was started, but it is a natural extension of a CSA. Most CSAs either have  a farmers market they go to, or a restaurant to channel surpluses, as well as broaden the CSA membership pool. We build in a buffer into our planning so the CSA doesn’t get overly affected by poor crop years so always need a place to sell this extra produce. Restaurants are easier in some ways because they take less time than being in a market stand for a day at a time.

Communication is the key. It is hard to state how critical it is to meet with those who are ordering, as well as those working with the food to get a sense of their capabilities. Each time an order goes out, ask how things are going.  Same at drop off or pickup points- those are great opportunities to check in. I find it rather fun to get to peek into the kitchens and store rooms in restaurants I will often eat at, to see the inner workings.

AP: Do you have recommendations for restaurant owners who are interested in buying direct, perhaps a short list of “dos and don’ts” that make a farm-restaurant relationship smooth?

DB: Do talk to the farmer. Are they set up to clean, and package how you normally expect  your produce. Be very clear about what your own storage, cleaning and processing capacity when talking to the farmer, because not every farm will be a match. Often the farmer has a lot of produce coming in a small window, and you may not be able to take everything right when its ready. It’s good to have the farmer visit your place, see the storage and kitchens so they can get an understanding of your limitations and strengths to streamline ordering processes. If you are not really set up to do a final wash of potatoes, it may be better to order from a farmer who can do that final wash for you.

Be prepared to spend more time communicating if you are dealing with multiple small farm enterprises. They are often not set up to have someone to manage wholesale orders and so will take a bit more work than a dedicated salesperson might.

Farmers need some predictability. It has been very helpful for us to negotiate a base amount of produce the restaurant will buy. This makes crop planning much easier for the farmer, and makes the week to week ordering simpler when you have set amounts of produce coming in per week, with the flexibility on both sides to change amounts as needed.

Try to find time to do some evaluation in the down-season  to tune what had happened over the growing season. Usually the growing seasons are a bit too hectic for more involved conversations

AP: Can you tell me a success story, how your direct relationship with restaurants has enhanced the success of your farm operation?

DB: I would say our work with Bob’s restaurants (author’s note – Bob Desautels – The Neighbourhood Group) have been  a great success. They are very flexible about working with what we have in season, as well as always willing to try out some of our more obscure vegetables. As well they help us out by signing wholesale agreements, allowing us to crop plan for them, and for them to have a steady supply of vegetables without having to negotiate each week with each supplier. Predictability is a huge aid for everyone in weekly planning. We are also exploring some more fun possibilities like perhaps harvesting some ‘weeds’ for a true local flair in food.

Are you a farmer with a direct marketing relationship with a restaurant or retailer?  If so, tell us about your success stories. You can leave a comment below or click here to send  us an email.

Photo © Ignatius Farm CSA

We all know that many sectors of the Canadian agriculture are in trouble.  Case in point, the pork industry. It’s under catastrophic collapse from fluctuating commodity prices, trade barriers instigated by disease outbreaks, and supply and demand issues which have left the pork industry in chaos.  Pork farms are going bankrupt under the current system.

So there are a myriad of farmers who are ready and willing to make the break from their traditional practices, and start into a new farming venture that may be more sustainable, or more responsive to market demand.  But there’s no money to be had.  Banks see farms, and especially experimental ventures, as risky business.  Loans are few and far between, and young farmers, such as my friend, who have little equity built up, are left in a quandary as to what to do, and how to fund it.

How about Slow Money?  In essence, put your money where your mouth is.  Like Slow Food, where supporting food and agriculture has become a winning business for many producers, some creative venture capitalists have branched into investing in local agriculture.  High risk, but potential for respectable returns, and respect for supporting the local economy.  Check out the report by CBC’s David Gutnick.

Do you have an example of a successful or creative farm and food investment strategy?  Tell us about what has worked for you.

_____________________

Posted by Amy Proulx

Photo © George Chriss, used under a Creative Commons Licence

Purple Cauliflower

Dale Kropf, founder of the Hometown Grocers’ Co-op, felt his customers were underserved with local products.  To address this, he left his six Sobey’s Foodland franchises, and became independent as L&M Food Markets.

By independently sourcing product, rather than going through national level corporate buyers, Kropf is able to purchase more from local producers, and create more tangible links between farmer and consumer.

That said, there is a cost.  Some products are more expensive, but have freshness and social value on their side.  Leaving the corporate environment means no support network for purchasing and marketing, but may give flexibility to make strategic choices for a different market edge.

http://www.cbc.ca/consumer/story/2009/07/14/f-grocery-stores-independent-buy-local-meat-produce.html

Do corporate policies influence how you source product? What are your barriers to sourcing local? Do local sources increase customer loyalty?