The Fermette market garden in Hemmingford was launched as a collaborative project between owners Annie-Claude Lauzon and Justine Chouinard and two Montreal-based restaurants, which now include Café Parvis, Bar Furco, and Papito.
The integrated business model meant that from the outset, there was a community of partners and a secure market for the over thirty varieties of vegetables grown on the small-scale bio-intensive farm. The pair sell their vegetables at markets and have also launched an online market option allowing individuals and families to place weekly vegetable orders that are then picked up at different collection points.
Lauzon, who also works at the Ferme des Quatre-Temps in Hemmingford, says restaurants are an important market to develop for vegetable farms, noting that the renowned experimental farm now collaborates with around 30 restaurants while selling products at a stall in the Jean-Talon market.
She says that producing for restaurants involves a planning process that starts well before seeds are sown in the spring. At La Fermette, they meet with chefs before the season starts to make sure their production aligns with the restaurants’ needs and potential menus. Once the season begins, restaurants rely on a stable and continuous supply of staple vegetables throughout the season, along with seasonal options as they come to flavour their menus. This includes the production of fresh greens throughout the winter to complement storage vegetables.
Lauzon says the main difference between producing for restaurants and for individual clients comes down to quantity over diversity. “Restaurants have other distributors, but if they are relying on us, and we commit to them, it’s fun to be able to offer consistency so they continue to buy from us,” she explains. At the same time, restaurants that choose to partner with farms quickly learn that there is only so much that can be planned ahead of time.
“We work with living things, we work with inclement weather, insects, diseases, many external factors that we cannot control,” Lauzon says, suggesting that the restaurants associated with La Fermette quickly adapted to this reality. “You have to accept to get on board with this as well.”
In the context of the Ferme des Quatre-Temps, she says they are noticing a distinct trend towards adding more local foods to menus. “It depends on the restaurant’s business model, but a restaurant that wants to promote or showcase local products will seek out that short supply chain with a producer directly, because it gives the product an identity,” she explains. This also guarantees products arrive freshly harvested, which she says is a fun narrative to incorporate into restaurant menus.