Imagine a day when heading to your nearest pizzeria comes with the expectation that the spinach or herbs topping your pie were cut fresh from the store's onsite mini-farm.
Now, I'm not speaking here of higher-end restaurant brands, but everyday pizza places and QSRs with value-based offerings that an average person can afford.
Think it sounds far-fetched? Too expensive? Completely unfeasible?
The people at one provider of such in-restaurant growing platforms, Vertical Fields, disagreed. The 15-year-old company provides "active living walls" designed to fit into the confines of a traditional restaurant space as well as ghost kitchens, according to Crystal Clifford, the company's director of U.S. Sales, who recently chatted with Pizza Marketplace about why more value-based restaurant brands are exploring a partnership with the Israeli -based business.
Q: What kinds of interest have you had from foodservice generally and fast food and pizza brands, more specifically?
A:We have had interest from the foodservice sector, particularly from restaurants, both from fine dining chefs as well as fast casual concepts. Additionally, we have had interest from Universities, hotel establishments, and healthcare facilities to name a few. Our farms are capable of growing a variety of baby leafy greens, fresh herbs, mushrooms and strawberries. …
Most of the interest in foodservice comes from the retail market such as supermarkets and restaurants. These retailers are interested in our pesticide-free produce -- products such as lettuce varieties, kale, mint, basil and other herbs. … We have had interest from a national burger chain for our specialty greens, year-round, in their salad menu offering. … (The pizza restaurant sector) has not yet been a targeted focus for our initial U.S. launch, but we believe our farming operation can be utilized in various business models around foodservice. Theoretically this includes the ability to fit the needs of pizza restaurant brands that may have a regionalized central kitchen commissary where the fresh product can be grown and then distributed to the stores with other items already consolidated at a central kitchen or distribution center.