Meet the Farmer

Bon Appétit’s relationships with farmers are essential to our success.  Each month we will feature a local farmer or rancher who provides the fresh, seasonal food you enjoy at your Bon Appétit café everyday.
 
Farmer: Brian Gardiner, America Fresh
Location: Northern California

Why I am a farmer:
Simply put: I love to grow things. It's not about the money, it's about growing produce that is full of flavor.
 
What I grow:
I grow a lot of things. I especially love heirloom varietals. Last summer I started growing a Native American summer squash, which has a totally different flavor profile than conventional summer squash. It also holds up better when cooked. The chefs at Bon Appétit got very excited about the squash, so this year we ended up planting more. Working so closely with the chefs at Bon Appétit means that we are constantly experimenting to cultivate produce with the best possible flavor profiles and that hold up to the cooking process.
 
What sustainability means to me:
Sustainability means many things; it means growing produce without using chemical herbicides, pesticides or poisons. Additionally, I use all-natural fertilizer, made from compost and I think what results are best tasting vegetables.
 
How Bon Appétit has helped me thrive:
Local growers usually don't cultivate enough produce to do business with supermarkets, leaving them with very few and unreliable outlets to sell their produce. Bon Appétit's purchasing power has had a tremendous effect, allowing the smaller producer to really thrive. In some cases, farmers have purchased more land. The biggest impact has been that the smaller producer is not at the mercy of the market, they are ensured by Bon Appétit's decision to buy local to have a consistent and reliable market for their produce. 
 
There are many reasons why Bon Appétit is an admirable company but there is one story that very clearly illustrates this. My farm manager forgot to irrigate one plot of tomatoes and they all ripened at once. They had to be used immediately or otherwise would go to waste. Two hundred pounds of tomatoes wasted was unimaginable, so I called one of the chefs at Bon Appétit to see if he could use them. He invited me to his kitchen and together we made marinara from heirloom tomatoes! It was delicious! It's just an example of how you can make lemonade from lemons, and since the chefs at Bon Appétit are real chefs, they do amazing things.