For almost 4 decades The Chef's Garden in Milan, Ohio, has been providing its world-class produce to chefs worldwide. But with restaurants shutting down all over the globe, the Chef's Garden has shifted to shipping to home cooks. Farmer Lee Jones takes us inside the pivot, and how they got it done.
In 1983, the Jones family of Milan, Ohio, shifted the focus of their family farm to providing the best possible ingredients to a growing population of chefs seeking high-quality and specialty produce, renaming their business The Chef's Garden. The approach has served them well, until the current pandemic. With restaurants temporarily shuttering across the globe, The Chef's Garden's customer base disappeared, and the company made a shift to selling a line of themed produce boxes (Immunity Booster, Anti-Aging Mix, Subscription Box, etc.) for home cooks. Farmer Lee Jones, the longstanding public face of the Jones family and The Chef's Garden, takes us inside the pivot and describes how his team made the switch so quickly.
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