Supporting your local food and Chefs should be a no-brainer. Here I’ll discuss a few reasons why. The food and beverage industry is massive and the local chefs and farmers are the backbone. Being a tourist, one should really focus on incorporating local into their itinerary. Local governments are also always doing their part to attract tourists to local businesses.

Supporting Your Local Economy:

As a local, nothing is more important than supporting and stimulating the local economy. This is preventing towns from being overrun with chains and franchises. Aside from removing culture and the uniqueness of your town, this is a big red flag for any potential or future business owners. Everyone knows that one location where 50 different businesses have come and gone. And eventually this spot will be filled with a Subway to stay. Here in Asheville we’re a proud member of GoLocal. This is a great program that gives back to public schools. GoLocal enhances programming, purchases much-needed teacher supplies and supports local kids. And in our other locations including Charleston, Savannah and Nashville, we encourage our Chefs to source as many local ingredients as possible.

Local Food is Fresh:

Sure, sometimes making a case for using fish from Hawaii or white truffles from France is necessary. In the world we live in now, everything is literally at our finger tips. But generally these ingredients make up a small percentage of any menu. Also, it is true that sometimes a local ingredient is inferior to a foreign (avocados are a great example). But again, this article is referring to what should be the bulk of your menu. Using not only local produce, but local and sustainable fish, meats and even salts!

Supporting Local Chefs and Their Advantage:

Any Chef thrives off the opportunity to use locally sourced ingredients. And because they are local, they know where to shop. This is important when hiring one of our Private Chefs. Our customers love exploring our local food menus and they are becoming our most popular. So we’re hoping we made the case for supporting your local food and chefs.