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Food for Thought: How Important is "Organic"?

Are more clients demanding organically produced food at their catered affairs?

By Pamela Harding

We read a lot about how more people are choosing to eat organically produced food and we see more businesses like Whole Foods steadily gaining ground. City greenmarkets are more popular than ever, and menus at many restaurants now feature premium organic products. The statistics are impressive.

Aaron Allen, CEO of Quantified Marketing Group, the nation's largest strategic marketing firm focused exclusively on the restaurant/food industry, says, "Organic produce is experiencing double-digit growth now and is expected to continue to rise at that rate for the foreseeable future."

He also says that the national phenomenon of 'trading up'—consumers opting for luxury and premium goods—is impacting almost every industry in the United States, the food industry included. "Organics are seen as premium luxury goods that are worth paying for and evidence of that can be found in menus across the country."

But what about catered events? Are clients asking caterers to go organic?
Right now, at least in the New York metro area, the answer is "no." Or maybe, "not yet." None of the caterers I interviewed had more than one or two requests in the past year specifically for organically produced food. And the few requests they had did not come from the corporate sector.

What I did find, however, is that clients are asking for—and caterers are providing more—locally grown, farm-raised or fresh-caught food and they are showing a greater interest in "sustainable agriculture."

The focus on local and "healthy" (if not specifically organic) is encouraged by some area caterers and essentially feeds on itself. Once people experience the flavor of super-fresh foods they tend to want more of the same. Plus they like the idea of supporting local producers.

Driving Forces

One of the main proponents of the fresh, local, seasonal movement is Liz Neumark of Great Performances. Last year her company bought the 60-acre Katchkie Farm in upstate New York, the produce from which will be certified organic, sold in local greenmarkets and used in her catering business. Why buy a farm? Her passion for the industry: "Hospitality in its simplest form is growing food…We say a passion starts from seed, and there is nothing that makes you feel as connected to food as seeing the ground, the earth, the fields of food…We talk about trends…what's the last trend, the next trend. This is so beyond trend, it's fundamental."

Joining a food co-op upstate about five years ago fired up her interest. "The flavor blew my mind," she said. "And the idea of being able to provide food that fresh, and putting a few less chemicals in the environment and in our bodies are really nice concepts."

It's also been a boon for her business. "I can harvest one day and serve it the next," she says. "Now we can really customize what we put in our fields and what we put on our menus."

How much of the produce she serves is grown on the farm? "The goal will never be 100 percent," Neumark says. "And the percentage will change from year to year as we ramp it up."

But she strongly embraces the whole notion of local/sustainable and buys more food from area producers. This spring, in fact, Great Performances is coming out with their new 100-mile menu (food produced within 100 miles of NYC).

Other food operators are initiating similar concepts. Mindy's restaurant at the New York Helmsley, for instance, recently revised their menu to feature only NY State products with a NY State wine list to match.

Another huge proponent of the movement is Chris Robbins of Robbins Wolfe Eventeurs®.

"One of the problems caterers have had was getting enough local produce to meet their needs, especially for large parties," he said. One challenge is their need for uniform product and another is gathering the goods. Going from farm stand to farm stand is not an expedient way to do business. But now, CulinArt, of which Robbins-Wolfe is a part, is working with vendors to be able to distribute locally grown produce to their facilities. This is also a focus of the company in Westchester and northern Connecticut. Robbins sees it as a major step and good for everyone, the farmers, the catering companies, and the clients. "We want to be able to use more local produce," he says, "and now the larger companies are finding ways to do that."