Savory Olive

1
Savory Olive

• Opened March 2003
• Goal Driven
• Use as much sustainably produced Montana product
  as possible
• Educate other chefs/restaurateurs to do the same
• Educate customers and staff on importance of
  buying local and sustainable

2
Local and Sustainable

• Sourced in Montana
• Raised or grown in a manner that can be continued
  for generations
• Without damaging local ecosystem
• In many instances repairing local ecosystem
• Working with local wildlife, including predators
• Limited or no use of chemical additives or pest
  control agents

3
Why Local?

• Tastes better
• Higher nutritional value
• Preserves genetic diversity
• Supports farm families and fuels economic
  rejuvenation
• Builds community pride
• Preserves open spacefarmers less likely to sell
  to developers
• Supports clean environment and benefits wildlife
• Its about the future, and making sure our kids
  have good food

4
First Year Results

• Consistent and steady growth in use of local
  product
• Number of local vendors used
• 5 at opening
• 16 during peak season (12 are protein)
• Protein sourced in Montana
• 30 at opening
• 57 during peak season
• Majority of remainder is seafood

5
Difficult Products

• Dry goods
• Pasta, beans, grain, grain products, etc
• Produce
• Seasonalwhen in season, we use 50-70 local
  product
• Seafood
• Feature Pacific Coast product

6
Challenges

• Dealing with multiple vendors
• Overcome through commitment and flexibility
• Vendors who dont understand restaurant needs
• Seasonality
• Distribution
• Small rancher access to slaughter
• Mobile kill floor
• small batch
• controlled environment
• better carcass quality
• more affordable

7
Customer Interest

• EDUCATION, EDUCATION, EDUCATION
• 3 groups of customers
• Diners
• Excited and supportive
• Want to do their part in reviving Montana economy
• Notice the difference in quality and flavor
• Like the novelty of being introduced to who
  made whats on their plate

8
Customer Interest

• Staff
• Value working for an organization with a mission
• Its not all about money not just a job
• Feel like they are doing good for others
• They are our single largest and most effective
  marketing machine
• Vendors
• Introducing them to each other
• View each other as support, not competition

9
Meat and Potatoes

• We enjoy breaking restaurant rules!
• Use whole beef
• Use local potatoes
• Feature the two together as often as possible to
  cement the local food message
• Our two largest commodities are produced in
  Montana, in a sustainable manner