Our 21st Annual Eat Local Challenge
- by Elise Kulers
Just over two decades ago, Bon Appétit Management Company began our annual tradition of challenging our chefs to cook an entire meal made exclusively with ingredients grown within 150 miles of their café. The rules are simple: All elements of the meal must be grown, harvested, milled, raised, or produced locally — the only exception is salt.
Each September, Eat Local Challenge is a chance for our chefs to flex their creativity while emphasizing our year-round support for our local farmers and foodsheds. This year, the celebration will take place on Tuesday, September 23rd, and our theme boils down the simplicity of the campaign’s motivation: “100% Local, 150 Miles”. Over the years, our chefs have used this basic approach to create countless mouthwatering creations while celebrating the long-term farm partnerships that define the core of our company. We’ve also witnessed how Eat Local Challenge can spur new lasting connections with nearby producers in the pursuit of a fully local plate.
While Eat Local Challenge is a once-per-year celebration for us at Bon Appétit, its inspiration is grounded in a legacy of pursuing a resilient food future through ongoing, institutional support of local food systems and producers. Last year, we celebrated 25 years of the Farm to Fork Program, our hallmark sustainability initiative that tasks all our teams to spend at least 20% of their food budget on small farms within 150 miles. To commemorate the occasion, we published our learnings in a white paper drawing from our many years of industry-leading experience: “Sowing Success: Local Food Purchasing Insights from 25 Years of the Farm to Fork Program”.
While there’s much to celebrate, we are grateful for the chance to enjoy another Eat Local Challenge with our guests, chefs, and farmers, and affirm our continual mission to expand and deepen the support for our local food communities. To that end, we’d like to introduce a few of our partners here!
Loving our Local Partners Across the Country
In the past 26 years of the Farm to Fork program, we have proudly built a network of over 1,500 active Farm to Fork partners that deliver the highest quality local products to our chefs and guests across the country. Our foundational commitment to local sourcing plays a defining role in realizing the Bon Appétit dream, which would not be possible without the ongoing supportive relationships between our local partners and chefs.
In honor of Eat Local Challenge, we are highlighting three of our Farm to Fork partners spread across the country, offering a glance into the incredible diversity of local products our teams purchase and the incredible people behind them.
The Klein family of Hidden Stream Farms
Hidden Stream Farm, Elgin, MN
Run by Lisa and Eric Klein, Hidden Stream Farm has been proud to work with Bon Appétit for the last 26 years. They have been a reliable Farm to Fork partner since the start of the program back in 1999, providing pasture-raised beef, pork, and chicken to several accounts in Minnesota.
Hidden Stream Farm is a true family operation. After selling his dairy cows, Lisa’s father transitioned to raising a variety of animals on pasture. Lisa and Eric have continued the tradition, which Lisa sees continuing to the next generation: “As our children join our operation, we see them continuing our pasture-based business.”
Their approach is simple: “We try to raise our animals as God intended on sunshine, grass, and fresh air. We use a regenerative system of farming, and we hope we will leave our little corner of the world better than when we received it. Our goal is to supply those within our local foodshed with high quality products at a price that will allow our farm to support our children that have joined our farming business.”
Not only does Hidden Stream sell their own meat and eggs, but they manage a food hub as well, offering a variety of meats, produce, eggs, and other products from over 25 other small, family farms. Lisa shares the impact of our decades-long partnership: “Working with Bon Appétit’s Farm to Fork program has provided not just our farm, but many farmers an opportunity to sell their products and stay on the land.”
Jones Coffee Roasters, Pasadena, CA
Chuck Jones of Jones Coffee Roasters leads a coffee tasting.
Since 2007, our accounts in Los Angeles have worked with Jones Coffee Roasters, an independent, local, family-run business with direct ties to their family coffee farm in Guatemala. Chuck Jones was first introduced to coffee at the age of five, when his mother took their family to Guatemala to visit her birthplace at Finca Dos Marias, the farm where their family has been producing coffee for six generations. His grandfather taught him how to roast coffee using a popcorn air popper, and he spent his summers learning about coffee production on the farm. After selling green coffee beans from the farm in his 20s with his brother, they were eventually able to start roasting their own beans and opened their first retail space in 2006. Since then, their mission has been to create spaces where people can grow and connect. Chuck shares, “We take pride in our high-quality, farm-direct, freshly roasted coffee and the strong community ties we have cultivated and sustained both in Guatemala and greater Los Angeles.”
Beyond growing and brewing delicious coffee, Chuck insists on supporting and nurturing the broader ecosystems they are a part of, both in Guatemala and in greater Los Angeles. This means creating transparent, traceable supply chains, maintaining direct trade relationships, and working to preserve the cloud forest surrounding the finca (farm). They are also engaged in supporting community-based organizations like Global Refuge’s program for Guatemalan youth and mutual aid campaigns in their own backyard following the fires in Altadena and the Palisades.
“Ultimately, we want the experience at Jones Coffee Roasters to go far beyond a vanilla latte to go. We want people to feel rooted in something larger—to stay, to listen to community jazz, to enjoy a homemade tamal on Friday mornings, and to learn from both the people around them and the story behind every cup.”
Chris Pacheco with his mushrooms.
Seacoast Mushrooms, Mystic, CT
Seacoast Mushrooms has proudly partnered with Bon Appétit for over six years, supplying fresh, sustainably-grown mushrooms to local residents and restaurants in coastal Connecticut, including Wesleyan University. Founded in 2015 by Chris Pacheco, a Navy veteran and former biotech engineer, the farm was born out of inspiration for the wide-ranging benefits of mushrooms and a strong desire to contribute to the Connecticut community.
The approach to growing mushrooms at Seacoast is directly tied to their commitment to sustainability, which is at the core of everything they do. According to Eva-Laura Ramirez-Wisiackas, their Sales and Marketing Manager, “Mushrooms are inherently a sustainable food source due to their minimal environmental impact and their ability to utilize agricultural waste.” Requiring little water and energy compared to other crops and grown without the use of chemicals and pesticides, mushroom cultivation also repurposes agricultural byproducts and waste materials, resulting in a low-impact and nutritious food source.
Seacoast Mushrooms is a tight-knit operation with a passionate team that is responsible for everything from growing and harvesting to packing and delivering. “We are a small, dedicated team, and each member plays a vital role in our growth,” shares Eva. “Ultimately, we are a group of individuals who love what we do, and we grow mushrooms because we are passionate about feeding, healing, and sustaining our community with the food we produce.”