Alain Chabot, Chef de Cuisine, at SKY 360, the revolving restaurant on top of the Calgary tower, displays some local ingredients that are used in his summer menu.Chris Bolin
Over the past eight months, Calgary's Sky 360 restaurant has achieved something of a recession-time miracle.
In October, as the economy started nosediving, the upscale restaurant opened for business at the top of the Calgary Tower. In January, with the restaurant industry in atrophy, Sky 360 was spending money on higher-quality ingredients and bumping menu prices 3 to 5 per cent.
Today, chef de cuisine Alain Chabot says business is booming and Sky 360 is profitable. So what's the recipe behind his success? Buying local. "[The Calgary Tower]was notorious for being bad food," Mr. Chabot says. "The company as a whole wanted to change that image. Part of the package was I get to use the ingredients I want."
He says his locavore habits have helped keep his restaurant in the sky. "The quality's gone up and that, in a sense, has to do with [ingredients]being local," he says. "Diners get it."
But are all diners willing to pay for it? As the recession continues, restaurants are taking a hard look at the cost of ingredients - especially the premium they may pay for local meat and produce. Last week, after Toronto chef Jamie Kennedy noted the financial challenge of embracing local food, some observers speculated that a hubristic devotion to regional ingredients was what humbled his restaurant empire.
Still, chefs who champion local ingredients - including Mr. Kennedy - say they aren't abandoning the movement. Even as many of them have suffered through the downturn, most are sticking to their principles. They're just trying to apply a bit more creativity and business savvy.
Mr. Chabot estimates that using farm-fresh ingredients costs about 15 to 20 per cent more than buying from commercial suppliers, but he says choosing provenance over price sets up a closer relationship with producers.
"[You can]go to them and say, 'Listen, food costs are too high this month. What can you guys do to help me?'" Mr. Chabot says. "You've had a coffee with them, you've gone to their farm and petted their lamb. At the end of the day, yes, they're your supplier, but they're also your friend."
Mr. Chabot says many of his suppliers have waived their delivery fees, and his boss also recently negotiated a better deal with one of the restaurant's meat suppliers, slashing costs by about 10 per cent.
In food-conscious British Columbia, chef Brandon Owen says restaurant patrons have come to practically expect B.C. ingredients on their menus.
As corporate executive chef with Neptune Food Service, Mr. Owens has consulted for restaurants undergoing a transition toward local-oriented menus, including mainstream businesses such as the family-friendly chain ABC Country Restaurants.
In some cases, Mr. Owen points out, regional meats and vegetables can be cheaper. "Right now, B.C. local hothouse tomatoes are the cheapest tomatoes available on the market," he offers as an example.
In other cases, he's sourcing less expensive, but still local, produce. "We're also working with our farmers and saying, 'Okay, can we grow some of the more versatile and cheaper alternatives?' Like squashes, carrots, onions and more of the produce that is readily available."
For others, loyalty to local nets savings of the non-monetary sort. Sure, locally procured food may come at a premium, but using high-value ingredients can also make the job easier, says Brad Long, executive chef and co-owner of Veritas restaurant in downtown Toronto.
"Just buy really good ingredients," he says. "You save time, you save money, you save cooking steps."
At Cowbell, a charcuterie and restaurant in Toronto, weekend business has more or less halved since the recession began. Owner Mark Cutrara and his team process their meat in-house - meaning labour costs are high - but he's keeping menu prices reasonable by shifting costs around on the plate. For example, whereas Cowbell's pre-recession menu might have boasted a 60-day dry-aged beef for $42, today Mr. Cutrara ages his Ontario beef for just 30 days, which is less labour-intensive, and sells it in smaller sizes with an assortment of other cuts.
Certainly, not all restaurants have stayed local in the recession. Leor Zimerman, chef of Toronto's Czehoski restaurant, says he has been forced to scale back.
"If it was up to me, I'd only buy local and organic, definitely, but that's just not possible right now," Mr. Zimerman says. "I've witnessed restaurants go under because the chefs have too much pride."
And for higher-volume restaurants or chains, staying local is an especially tough act to juggle. Last winter, Italian restaurant chain Il Fornello started offering all-local daily specials in its nine restaurants across the Greater Toronto Area. That's no longer affordable, president Ian Sorbie says.
"I think if we were a single-unit restaurant with a clientele that wasn't really price-sensitive, it would've been easier to maintain," he says.
Il Fornello's first stop for produce is still the farmers' market, Mr. Sorbie says, but now they'll also shop across the border if they have to.
As for Jamie Kennedy, long regarded as a pioneer of local food in Canada, he says he's not abandoning his movement.
"I do not blame the engagement in the local food movement for my financial woes," he says, attributing them to his own strategic mistakes instead.
With his company now at a smaller, more manageable size, he's exploring different approaches and strategies for absorbing the higher costs of local food.
He also has an established network of farmers and suppliers supporting him through the difficult times.
"The community of suppliers around me are fully committed to helping me see this through," Mr. Kennedy says. "There is incredible opportunity out there. It needs to be lassoed, and people need to believe it will work."