Starting Growing for Your Restaurant

Are you thinking of starting your own restaurant garden?

It’s no secret that fresh food grown from your own garden is better than food you buy from the markets. When you grow your own fruits, vegetables, herbs, you know exactly what products are being used to grow the food. You’ll know and have the surety that you’re serving real, organic food.

Use herbs, fruit, and vegetables from your restaurant’s own garden to produce delicious dishes filled with natural flavors and vitamins. No need to add complex sauces and a hoard of artificial flavors in order to produce a great taste. You’ll have the satisfaction of giving your customers the joy of experiencing fresh home-grown produce straight from the restaurant’s kitchen - a miniature farm which shows customers how serious you take your business and their health.

Making a Restaurant Garden

There are a variety of growing styles around such as container gardening, raised beds, elevated greenhouses, aeroponic tower gardens and, of course, the natural ground gardening style.

No matter the location of your restaurant, you can always find space for a cute herb or vegetable garden. If your restaurant is in the country or suburbs, build a garden behind the kitchen or clear some lawn and dig a square patch. Let customers see the restaurant growing what it feeds them!

Restaurants in the city are usually short of space, so they resort to rooftop gardens. You don’t really require much space for growing vegetables and herbs as a few planters will make it possible to grow a large variety. The leaves of the plants will be regularly used for cooking purposes, thus the plants will remain small.

Restaurants Growing Their Own Food On-Site

Many cities in the U.S. offer you the opportunity to visit a restaurant growing its 

own produce to feed prospective customers. Restaurants in St. Louis that grow their own food and serve organic include Sidney Street Café, Schlafly Bottleworks, and Element. If you’re in New York City and interested in visiting such organic restaurants that can give you a tour of their gardens, head on over to the ABC Kitchen, and the Rosemary’s Exchange Alley. If you’re in San Francisco, the Greens Restaurant, Brix, and Spruce are the places to go see these restaurant gardens.

For a more comprehensive list of restaurants growing their own food near you check out this article by Travel and Leisure.

Grow Herbs, Vegetables, and Fruits

Herbs don’t need a lot of space to grow. In fact, you can easily grow herbs on the same patch or bed. Herbs like rosemary, lavender, oregano, and thyme can all be grown simultaneously on one patch.

It’s also possible to grow a wide variety of vegetables using very little space. For example green beans, peas, cucumbers, and tomatoes are good choices as they can be made to grow vertically up trellises. Choose fruits like strawberries and cantaloupes as they grow closer to the ground in contrast to tall fruit trees which require more space.

In addition to growing herbs, vegetables, and fruits, you can also grow edible flowers which can be used to garnish salad dishes and desserts. Borage petals for example are widely used in salads.

Benefits

There are numerous benefits to be had by a restaurant that grows its own food. Here are just some of these benefits.

• The ability to put ‘organic and home-grown’ on advertising and marketing material. The word ‘home-grown’ on the menu greatly influences customers’ decisions to choose your restaurant.
• The ability to offer fresh in-season and out-of-season options. If you manage to get a greenhouse up and running, you’ll be able to serve summer fruits like strawberries in your winter desserts! How’s that for standing apart from your competition?
• Less cost and more eco-friendly.
• Your garden becomes an extension of your restaurant where guests can enjoy an after-meal stroll. Gardens have a way of making people feel relaxed and happier. Your guests will not only get to enjoy a delicious meal but will also be able to make a connection with where it came from.

Stand Apart From the Rest

The concept of a restaurant growing its own food could prove to be revolutionary for the restaurant industry. The fact that more and more people are looking for restaurants that serve organic food shows that people are interested and ready to support restaurants with such initiatives. Therefore don’t be hesitant in starting your own restaurant garden. Use it to stand apart from the rest.