Help! Expectations betwn grower and chef for special event dinner

11 years ago

I am a grower for a farm that produces for CSA and farmer market (about 100 CSA and one day FM per week) from mid-June to mid October. This past April we were asked by two chefs to host a dinner on our farm on June 3rd that they would organize and it would highlight the produce we supplied.

This is something we have not done before and I am terribly concerned we do not have the needed produce that the chefs are planning to use for the dinner. Not because we couldn't have grown them, however, because as of this date, we have not heard back from the chefs as to what the final menu will be and quantities needed. Two weeks ago we e-mailed a list of possible vegetable and herbs expecting to hear back on what would be on the menu, therefore, giving us time to plant baby leaf greens and other lettuce mixes to suppliment other produce. We didn't get the menu, just that there were at that time only 15 people signed up. We e-mailed again requesting a menu and amounts of herbs and produce and what we got back was that if there were not at least 50 people signed up they would cancel. (In April they told us to expect 150 people).

Where did we go wrong? My own expectation was that I would hear back from the chefs in mid April with what they wanted as far as vegetables. That would have given me plenty of time to plan for this dinner along with our CSA and farmer market needs.

When would it have been reasonable to get quantities needed? There is a huge difference between 15 signed-up and up to 150! I would expect they are not planning on going out in the field to do the harvest and prep, so, this also would take some planning.

We've had special events on the farm in previous years and supplied the vegetables for the lunch, but these events had registered attendance which made it easy to add into our farm growing schedule.

I would appreciate any advice on what we could do to improve communication between chefs, dinner organizers and growers. Would a written form be a good addition? What should it include?

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Comments (4)

magz88
11 years ago
In the future it might be useful to include a cutoff signup date. If you need XX amount of days to grow the vegetables then include in the arrangement that if the minimum required number of people have not signed up by such and such a date that the arrangement is to be cancelled.

Alternately, you could advise the chefs that if the menu is not provided by such and such a date that they will have to develop a menu with whatever vegetables you have in surplus.
lazy_gardens
11 years ago
My nephew's wedding dinner menu was to include "locally grown" products.

The chefs covered their tails thoroughly by listing the things "most likely to be available" and the plans for using them, and had a that got them off the hook if they had to fall back on other suppliers. As it turned out, the planets all aligned and almost nothing on the menu was from more than 50 miles away, including the astounding roast beef.

A good chef hands you a menu and a shopping list. A great chef walks through the market and makes the menu as he/she spots things that are interesting.
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intoorganics
Original Author
11 years ago
Thanks for the help. I spoke with the organizer and chef and have a better understanding of how to plan for supplying vegetables in the future. As it turns out, the event was cancelled because there were not 50 people registered. Your right lazygardens, the chef would have come up with a great menu from what we had available, which I hope will happen on a future date. Thanks again.
2ajsmama
11 years ago
I had a similar thing happen (at least we weren't hosting it). Local Historical Society wanted me to supply jams, jellies, pickles, etc. for Tavern Night (mid-19th century), I helped plan the menu and bought 10 lbs of pork roast (just a taste for 50 people) and then we got hit with a freak snowstorm, everyone lost power for days (we kept the freezer running with a generator) and the event was canceled. All the pickles were in the fridge, I didn't can them since the event was only a week or so away from when I was harvesting my peppers. We ate a LOT of pickled peppers for a while (and pork roast more than a few times over the winter).

Just got notice they've rescheduled for June 8. I still have the jams and jellies, but have market so said I can't help that night (though I did help them revise the menu to a more seasonally-appropriate one), they'll have to pick up the jars earlier. At least they said they'd put out placecards with the flavors (and ingredients in case of allergy) when they dish them out (if I make up the cards, and I'll make sure I put my farm name on them), and I can stop by after market. Who knows, maybe I can sell some more out of the back of my truck LOL!

But at least you didn't get stuck with a lot of perishable produce.