Growing Your Own Can Solve Seasonal Shortages

While most operators have a fairly easy time procuring local, seasonal product in spring, summer and fall, it’s a challenge in the winter.

While most operators have a fairly easy time procuring local, seasonal product in spring, summer and fall, it’s a challenge in the winter. Liz Neumark, founder and CEO of Great Performances, a company that operates several cafes and foodservice ventures in New York City, has found a way around supply limitations.

She grows her own.

In the summer of 2006, Neumark established Katchkie Farm in New York’s upstate Hudson Valley. The 60-acre, sustainable, year-round organic farming operation can deliver fresh product to her concepts 24 to 48 hours after harvest. During the first growing season, the fields yielded 29 different vegetables and an assortment of herbs.

Although frost hardens the ground by November, items like butternut squash, turnips and onions are plucked and placed in cold storage. Plus, Neumark prolongs the season by preserving: Heirloom tomatoes are roasted and frozen; beets and cucumbers are pickled and winter squash is cured. And for the first time this winter, Katchkie’s three greenhouses will be providing enough arugula, mache, spinach, mustard greens, herbs and other leafy treats to freshen up the menu.

"It’s very impactful in the middle of January to surprise guests with flavorful greens," Neumark says.

Excerpt from Restaurant Business Magazine’s November 2007 article, “The Local Route.” Reprinted with permission of Ideal Media, LLC.