The Farmer Chef Direct Marketing Workshops and On-line Registration:
- Hudson, WI, Thurs. June 26th, 2008 1:00-3:30pm, Phipps Center for the Arts
General Admission: $5.00
Free to members of the following organizations: Buy Fresh Buy Local, Green Routes, Minnesota Grown, River Market Community Co-op.
Hosted by Renewing the Countryside, Land Stewardship Project, River Market Community Co-op, St. Croix River Scenic ByWay and Minnesota Grown.
Got Local? SPEED DATING FOR FARMER/CHEFS
Are you a farmer looking to expand your market into restaurants, cafes,
food services, institutions and distributors?
Are you a buyer interested in making new connections to purchase local
products from farmers, producers and distributors?
In response to increasing consumer interest in locally grown food, many
restaurants and food service providers want to find local foods for
their menus, but don't have the time to track them down. Farmers tell
us that they don't know where to begin, or don't have time to go
knocking on restaurant doors to see if they are interested in what they
produce.
Larry Lev, an Endowed Chair in Agricultural Systems at the U of MN,
brought us a model, developed by the Portland Chefs Collaborative, that
helps farmers and buyers “find” each other. The networking
process—loosely based on the principles of speed-dating—works like
this: 1) fill a room with chefs and food buyers interested in buying
local products and farmers interested in selling to them; 2) give them
five minutes to connect one-on-one about what they produce and what
they're interested in buying’ 3) exchange business cards if they're
interested in following up; and 4) rotate.
If you are a farmer interested in getting your product into a
restaurant, grocery store or institution (school, hospital, etc.), or a
food buyer for a restaurant or other institution; or someone working in
food systems and would like more information on the "got local?" series of workshops, please call 612.871.1541 or e-mail Jan at jan@rtcinfo.org
Past Workshops
-
Twin Cities, Mon. Jan. 7, 2008 10:00-3:00pm, MN Landscape Arboretum
- Little Falls (North Central Minnesota), Mon. Jan. 28, 2008 10:00-3:00pm, Initiative Foundation
http://gotlocallittlefalls.eventbrite.com (click to register)
General Admission: $10.00
Free to members of the following organizations: MN Grown,
Green Routes, Land Stewardship Project, Sustainable Farming
Association, Farmer Union, Midwest Food Alliance, Heartland Food
Network, MN Restaurant Association.
Download the "Save the Date" .pdf
Renewing the Countryside, Minnesota Grown, MISA, Green Routes,
Heartland Food Network and Food Alliance Midwest, in partnership with
local sponsors, are hosting three Farmer/Buyer Connection workshops in
January with funding from a North Central Extension Risk Management
Education grant. The workshops will have information sessions to assist
farmers and food buyers to connect and explore best practices in
working together, followed by the networking opportunity—a chance to
forge new relationships for the 2008 growing season!
|
