Incorporating farm to table principles can done on a transitional basis.
The COO should assembles a team that would focus on compiling
data that is centered around the needs of the consumer. This way the
business plan will be reflective of the consumers and companies
interests. The grocery store can try and source produce seasonally
and I would recommend transparent marketing. What I mean by this
is labeling all locally sourced produce within a a certain mile radius and
letting consumers know where it’s from. If there’s one thing that
consumers love is being connected to the brands and companies they
shop with.
The risk of farm to table is that it is not a 100% possible to only sell
locally sourced products in a chain of Supermarkets. a Consumers are
use to the convenience of year round produce even with items that
are out of season.
Delivery can be a complicated affair, as it happens. On average,
American metropolitan areas grow or raise less than 2% of the food
that they consume, farm-to-table aside. even if all the green space in
Seattle were used to grow food, for example, it wouldn’t feed more
than 4% of the city’s population (SupplyChainX, 2016).
The excerpt above also brings up another issue. Urban environments
may not have access to high volume producing farms. It would also be
unfair to ask farmers to increase their production, which may affect
their sustainable practices.
The local farmers will need metrics and estimated projections. In
order for me as the COO to support farm to table I would need data
supporting that this initiative is sustainable for the farmers and
business.
References:
Traylor, R. (2017, October 2). Farm to table: A movement for local and
organic food. WebstaurantStore. Retrieved January 28, 2022, from
https://www.webstaurantstore.com/blog/postdetails.cfm?post=153
2#:~:text=Farm%20to%20table%2C%20also%20known,country%20
or%20around%20the%20world.
