Library

Marketing to Professional Chefs

Kathleen Kelley (2016)

Summary

One of the first questions that growers should consider when deciding which crops to grow is “Who should I market my product to?” Understanding your clientele’s needs and wants is the best way to determine what to produce. A potential outcome of growing what you think will be in demand, rather than what your customer truly wants, is having an abundance of produce, but with no one to purchase it. In addition, by talking with potential customers you can learn about the quantity of product they demand and whether or not they would be interested in additional offerings, such as partially processed or value-added products. Professional chefs, who work at restaurants, are one potential market for produce.