Selling to Chefs And Retail Places

[Garlic#1]

This thread seems to have died out and I hope I can renew some interest.

As others have mentioned before, living in a rural area, few care about special varieties, it's all about the price. With chefs, the right ones, price is less of an issue. I refer to my area as "Podunk." Look it up.

In fact, this is why I joined Tomatoville.

I sell to chefs, and that's it. I refer to myself, first, as an "Gentleman Farmer" as I am retired from both Federal Government and the military. Secondly, as a "Purveyor of Specialty Produce." Sounds fancy, but I'll schlep sweet corn and potatoes to pay the bills.

What I concentrate is on specialty produce.

This year we introduced entire Artisan Tomato Collection, 6 varieties, sold mixed, and the Bronze Torch. Amazing results in sales.

We already are planning two more from Wild Boar Farms and Artisan Seeds.

Looking to hear from folks who want to talk specialty tomatoes and beyond. I need an "big ugly heirloom" to round us out. Any suggestions?

Beyond that, we want to hear about other specialty items such as Badger Flame Beets and Beauregarde Snow Peas. Anything on the cutting edge. Ideas?

Chefs want (demand) something new. Tastes great, is just a given.

Help an old guy out here folks, you have the knowledge. Reading through past posts here tells me you have this dialed in, I just need some new ideas and fresh thoughts.

Can you assist?

[Barb_FL]

Originally Posted by Garlic#1

This thread seems to have died out and I hope I can renew some interest.

As others have mentioned before, living in a rural area, few care about special varieties, it's all about the price. With chefs, the right ones, price is less of an issue. I refer to my area as "Podunk." Look it up.

In fact, this is why I joined Tomatoville.

I sell to chefs, and that's it. I refer to myself, first, as an "Gentleman Farmer" as I am retired from both Federal Government and the military. Secondly, as a "Purveyor of Specialty Produce." Sounds fancy, but I'll schlep sweet corn and potatoes to pay the bills.

What I concentrate is on specialty produce.

This year we introduced entire Artisan Tomato Collection, 6 varieties, sold mixed, and the Bronze Torch. Amazing results in sales.

We already are planning two more from Wild Boar Farms and Artisan Seeds.

Looking to hear from folks who want to talk specialty tomatoes and beyond. I need an "big ugly heirloom" to round us out. Any suggestions?

Beyond that, we want to hear about other specialty items such as Badger Flame Beets and Beauregarde Snow Peas. Anything on the cutting edge. Ideas?

Chefs want (demand) something new. Tastes great, is just a given.

Help an old guy out here folks, you have the knowledge. Reading through past posts here tells me you have this dialed in, I just need some new ideas and fresh thoughts.

Can you assist?

Since no one responded, here's my take: Just to clarify, I'm a backyard gardener but in the last couple of years sold tomatoes from my driveway to help offset some of the costs. I've grown a lot of varieties of tomatoes but am not an expert.


What tomatoes are you planning on growing from Wild Boar Farms? I've grown a lot of his and find they are all really soft tomatoes. This past season (my season is Sept - June), I grew PBTD, Indian Stripes, Chocolate Stripes and GGWT (Girl Girl Weird Thing). PBTD,GGWT, CS all look similar. I've grown them all before but not all 4 at the same time. Previously, I really didn't notice PBTD or other BG tomatoes being so soft until I started selling them.

Of the 4, GGWT and Chocolate Stripes were by far the best. We had a bad storm in late January that took out Indian Stripes so I can't really fault the tomato and going to give it another run this season. PBTD and the other BG tomatoes are just too soft - maybe it is a climate thing but I think GGWT would be a much better alternative.

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Not tomato related, but have you considered selling lettuce to your chefs? There are lots of specialty lettuces and info on the internet for selling lettuce year round.

[Garlic#1]

Thanks Barb

Again, we try to service the higher end restaurants. They are always looking for something new. Unique.

Artisan sold well along with Bronze Torch.

We pick the day of delivery. Nothing held or stored.

Wild Boar
BLACK BEAUTY
BRAD’S ATOMIC GRAPE
PINK BERKELEY TIE-DYE
maybe others

Key is to be the newest.

[Barb_FL]

Originally Posted by Garlic#1

Thanks Barb

Again, we try to service the higher end restaurants. They are always looking for something new. Unique.

Artisan sold well along with Bronze Torch.

We pick the day of delivery. Nothing held or stored.

Wild Boar
BLACK BEAUTY
BRAD’S ATOMIC GRAPE
PINK BERKELEY TIE-DYE
maybe others

Key is to be the newest.

You will get a ton of tomatoes from Brad's Atomic Grape. I've grown it several years but didn't last season or this upcoming season. It is much later than my other cherry tomatoes.

For cherry tomatoes, I'm partial to the Tokita Brand: Sun Series - very sweet, prolific, disease resistant. Particularly: Sun Orange (an improved SunGold that doesn't split), SunChocola, SunGarnet. You might want to consider SunGreen which is super high brix - Johnny's and Parkseed have the newest release 4029. I grew the prior release last season and although excellent, there was a learning curve when to pick. I've started the 4029 now and it is supposed to be less DTM and slightly smaller and easier to know when to pick.

Tomatoes with a lot of Antho just don't taste that good when I've grown them so I stopped.

You might want to consider growing Lucid Gem from Wild Boar.

Originally Posted by bitterwort

I grew Bronze Torch this year too and thought it was great. Try Captain Lucky--it's stunning and great tasting.

I'm growing Captain Lucky for the first time this season. I have only heard great things about this tomato.

ETA - If you want something new, check out KarenO's varieties. She has a thread on this site.

[Gardenboy]

Happy Labor Day to All,



Barb...I was wondering what is sungarnet like? It is similar to the "garnet" cherry? I grow garnet cherry every season and wondered if the sungarnet is any different? Also I grew SunChocola last season and got great results. I saved seeds without thinking that it is a hybrid. Have you grown saved seeds from the Tokita variety tomatoes and still got a similar plant as the parent? Just wonder what your thoughts may be. Where can I purchase Sungarnet cherry seeds? Thanks as always for your knowledge and help.

[Barb_FL]

Originally Posted by Gardenboy

Happy Labor Day to All,



Barb...I was wondering what is sungarnet like? It is similar to the "garnet" cherry? I grow garnet cherry every season and wondered if the sungarnet is any different? Also I grew SunChocola last season and got great results. I saved seeds without thinking that it is a hybrid. Have you grown saved seeds from the Tokita variety tomatoes and still got a similar plant as the parent? Just wonder what your thoughts may be. Where can I purchase Sungarnet cherry seeds? Thanks as always for your knowledge and help.

I updated an old thread with pictures of SunGarnet etc. I didn't want to intrude on Garlic1 thread.

http://tomatoville.com/showthread.ph...616#post759616

I never grew Garnet; but grew Rosella (Garnet's sister).
I also never grew out F2 seeds from any Tokita brand tomato.