I shared several ideas of growing one’s own vegetables, such as urban farming, community-support agriculture, and rooftop gardening. I used to believe that these ideas would work better for independent restaurants or in the consumer market because chain restaurants are less flexible in menu engineering. It turns out that rooftop gardening can also work very well in luxury hotel chains.
Today’s CNN News video shows us a great example --- the Park 75 Restaurant in the Four Seasons Hotel Atlanta. This Four Seasons not only grows vegetables but also raises bees on its own. The rooftop garden provides most vegetables and 100% of herbs being consumed in the restaurant. Honey has also become a key ingredient in cooking; excess honey will be packaged for retail sales.
When the food cost is getting higher and higher these days, roof-top gardening could be a very good supply chain strategy for restaurants (similar to backward integration). Most of all, chefs can plan and know for sure what fresh produce can be put on the tables. What do you think of this rooftop gardening idea? Will more restaurants start growing vegetables on their own? What potential problems would prevent restaurants from growing their own vegetables? What are your suggestions for overcoming those problems/concerns?
Today’s CNN News video shows us a great example --- the Park 75 Restaurant in the Four Seasons Hotel Atlanta. This Four Seasons not only grows vegetables but also raises bees on its own. The rooftop garden provides most vegetables and 100% of herbs being consumed in the restaurant. Honey has also become a key ingredient in cooking; excess honey will be packaged for retail sales.
When the food cost is getting higher and higher these days, roof-top gardening could be a very good supply chain strategy for restaurants (similar to backward integration). Most of all, chefs can plan and know for sure what fresh produce can be put on the tables. What do you think of this rooftop gardening idea? Will more restaurants start growing vegetables on their own? What potential problems would prevent restaurants from growing their own vegetables? What are your suggestions for overcoming those problems/concerns?
Now this is ingenious! I love the fact that the hotel opted for a more environment friendly approach and have managed to incorporate it in their other endeavors. And the great thing about this is, it can be applied to urban and suburban homes.
ReplyDeleteAnother follow-up update from MSNBC: Restaurant's high-tech rooftop grows fresh ingredients - http://t.co/dAmT7ty
ReplyDeleteLinchi Kwok