Organic Chemistry

By Howard Riell

18 theconsultant Bonus Issue 2006

 No matter the reason – the benefits of whole-
some, more healthful food and sustainable
resources for the optimists, or Mad Cow Disease
and pesticide residue for the pessimists – more
people are choosing organic foods than ever
before. Fueling the growth are rising consum-
er concern about the integrity of the food sup-
ply, governmental standards that clearly define
the meaning of the term ‘organic’ and the
greater availability of organic foods through
mainstream channels.
F
rom fruits and vegetables to meat, poultry, dairy,
bread and grains, packaged and prepared foods,
desserts, snacks, fish, juices and other beverages,
oils, nuts and grains, restaurants and retail shops are
making organic foods available in record amounts. It isn’t
always easy: prices are higher, sourcing can be difficult,
seasonality is an issue, and shelf lives are briefer than
usual. But who ever said giving patrons what they want
was supposed to be easy?
Organic food “is booming on restaurant menus, par-
ticularly among chefs who have what I would call, an
orientation toward sustainability,” says Elaine Lipson,
Organic Program Director for New Hope Natural Media in
Boulder, CO, and the author of the biennial Packaged Facts
report, U.S. Market for Organic Food and Beverages (2004).
Many of the best chefs today are supporting or-
ganic and local foods, Lipson notes. “Quite honestly,
I think many of them are doing it because the food is
theconsultant Bonus Issue 2006
fresh and flavorful, and they believe in the environ-
mental benefits of organic foods and helping farmers
stay on the land. There is a whole spectrum of reasons,
but I don’t really think it’s just because it’s trendy. It
certainly costs more and takes more inventive sourcing
than conventional foods, so I think there has to be
some commitment there.”
There appears to be. “This is a huge initiative in res-
taurants at this time,” says Karen Malody, FCSI. “One of
the clients I am now working with, a natural hamburger
concept, is specifying only organic produce even for its
burgers. The public wants it, and I think restaurateurs
have been primary drivers of this phenomenon. Foodser-
vice has driven the trend out into retail. Though some
still question it, I believe, after endless side-by-side com-
parisons, organic produce, or for that matter organic
anything, absolutely does taste better.”
According to the National Restaurant Association’s
19
 Organic Chemistry

Top left: Baskets of organic produce at an organic food fair. Top right: New organic products on display at the 2006 All Things Organic
show presented by the Organic Trade Association. Bottom left: An organic producer from Stratford sells his products in Coventry’s
central market in the UK. Bottom right: The All Things Organic Show draws hundreds of visitors. Centre: Certification logo for New
Zealand organic farmers.

2005 Restaurant Industry Forecast, 46 percent of family-
dining restaurant operators, 39 percent of casual-dining
operators and 48 percent of fine-dining operators report
more orders for organic items now than they did two
years before, according to Annika Stensson, the associa-
tion’s manager of media relations.
Restaurants that focus on organics often do their own
shopping at the local farmers’ market, says Stensson,
“indicating careful selection and top quality produce,
selected by the chef himself or herself. This adds to the
draw of organics, as it indicates careful preparation and
the uniqueness of recipes.”
This growth is far from simply an American phenom-
enon. The world organic market exceeded the $30-billion
mark last year, estimates Amarjit Sahota of the British
corporate consultant Organic Monitor, up about $2 billion
year to year. North America and Europe are showing the
highest growth rates, but more and more governments
all over the world are discovering organic agriculture as
a chance to develop the agricultural sector for the future
and address environmental and social problems.
What Organic Is, and Isn’t
‘Organic’ is a production claim, not a food safety or content
claim. The term refers to the way in which food is grown
and handled. As a concept, it does not govern whether or
not the food is safer or healthier than non-organic food.
Despite that, consumers have embraced the term as signi-
fying foods that are better for them or their families because
organically-produced foods do not include the use of
chemical fertilizers, pesticides, or hormones.
In October 2002, the USDA established a set of na-
tional standards that define and govern the use of the
term “organic,” with respect to food products grown

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 Organic Chemistry

Working with Organic

Chef Rolf Baumann, CEC, Corporate Chef
at Delaware North Sports Service in Buffalo,
NY, recommends some things to keep in
mind when working with organics.
He suggests keeping a different part of
the walk-in for organics. “It’s almost like
having a kosher kitchen area. You also need
to have the documentation. You save that
in case somebody actually wants to see it;
and they do ask.”
Sourcing organics is “not as difficult in
2006, but it depends on what region you’re
in,” says Baumann, who oversees 22 venues
around the country. His accounts in Milwau-
kee, for example, find it “very difficult” to
source organic items. “What we do is strike
up a friendship with the local farmers who
do organic stuff. If not, we have a national
(distributor) with a list.”
On that list, organic meats are likely to be
15 to 20 percent more per pound, he says. A farmer at Portland’s farmers’ market in Oregon reminds his customers that the
Poultry is a little less expensive “because it’s produce he sells is fresh, locally grown and sustainably produced.
more of a standard industry at this point.
Produce is still high. In California it’s 5 to 10
percent more, but in the Midwest you’re go- in the U.S. and abroad. According to the standard, to be considered or-
ing to pay 20 percent more.” Dairy products ganic, foods must be produced without conventional pesticides; fertil-
are about 10 percent higher. izers made with synthetic ingredients or sewage sludge; hormones; bio-
Organic meats tend to be richer and more engineering or ionizing radiation. Before a product can be labeled “or-
flavorful, but can dry out faster, says Bau- ganic,” a government-approved certifier inspects the farm where the food
mann. He recommends doing some extra is grown to make sure the farmer is following all the rules necessary to
brining or using marinades to put more mois- meet USDA organic standards. Companies that handle or process or-
ture into it. Organic produce is “a lot more ganic food must also be certified.
In the last 10 years, the demand for organic foods has doubled, and is
delicate, obviously, because it’s not gassed,
expected to more than double again, increasing from just under $11 billion
and the shelf life is probably half that of
in 2004 to more than $30 billion by 2007, according to Packaged Facts, a
something else.”
producer of syndicated market research. While organics represent only
about 2 percent of sales in both retail and foodservice channels, the group
says this share is expected to increase. And while foodservice currently
represents only about 4 percent of organic sales, use of organic products
in U.S. foodservice is increasing by an estimated 20 percent annually. In
fine dining, almost two-thirds of respondents reported that they already
offer an organic menu.

Europe Integrating Organic

The market for organic foods is “growing fast” in Europe, though “mainly
through the retail channels,” reports Marianne Wacholz, an editor with Food-
service Europe & Middle East magazine based in Frankfurt, Germany. “The

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 Organic Chemistry
This bakery offers wholesome breads and baked goods made with organic flours. Their stand at the Portland Farmers’ Market regularly
sells out despite their higher-than-supermarket prices.
buzzword is not healthiness but rather wellness. This ho-
listic thing, you know: ‘good for me.’ In terms of foodser-
vice, there are only few ‘organic’ concepts in Germany.”
Instead, she adds, “you find foodservice operations
integrating organic ingredients, for example the multiple
foodservice operation at Volkswagen’s Autostadt in Wolfs-
burg which is run under Mövenpick management, or the
Fresh Flow restaurants within the foodservice portfolio
of Karstadt warehouses – 11 big outlets where everything
is made under the customers’ eyes from scratch.” In
other European countries, most notably France and the
UK, she notes, “you’ll find more new-generation, fast-
food/fast casual concepts like Pret A Manger banking on
organic produce.”
The UK is the third-largest organic market, behind
the U.S. and Germany, worth over £1.12bn ($1.85 bil-
lion) a year, says Jonathan M. Doughty, FCSI, Group
Managing Director for Coverpoint Catering Consul-
tancy Ltd. in Reading, United Kingdom. Supermarkets
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sell 80 percent of all organic food and drink, he adds,
although this accounts for only 1 percent of total food
and drink sales in the UK. The demand is being driven
through the retailers at present, “not through foodser-
vice operators,” Doughy reports. “The factors behind
the trend are the familiar concerns of healthy diet,
provenance of food, taste and sustainability. These issues
are constantly in the popular media, but there is also
confusion between labels given to food such as free
range, organic, wild and sustainable.”
Organic food products are found in the UK foodservice
market, explains Doughty, “but it is still a niche market
for purely organic restaurants. These tend to be individ-
ual restaurants, or part of a small group such as Planet
Organic, Pizza Organic and Natural Café.”
‘Springing Up’ In Canada
“Organic is big (and) lots of new restaurants are springing
up all over,” reports Stan Pyne, FCSI, CFSP, CPSA, man-
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 Organic Chemistry

ager of food facilities planning for Hirschberg Design
Group, Inc. in Toronto, Canada. “Some of them are,
unfortunately, seasonal and closed for the winter. How-
ever, that does not deter others from going into business.
It seems like mostly the ethnic population that tends to
run that way, with a smattering of European.”
Costs are somewhat lower overall for these restaurants,
Pyne says, since kitchens don’t need to be as large. “Sourc-
ing is not a problem here. Toronto is such a multina-
tional city that there is a great abundance of fresh produce
available.” A wealth of organic eateries has sprung up in
Toronto, according to Lipson, including Campos; Organi-
clicious, a sandwich shop serv-
ing organic sandwiches; Tre-
Fontane, a vegetarian, all-you-
can-eat Italian buffet; Radical
Roots, a vegan-run student café;
and Happy Buddha and An-
napurna, two new full-service

Franklin Machine
vegetarian restaurants.
“Like the wild salmon move-
ment of a few years ago, more
organizations are looking at
organics and non-GM foods to
differentiate themselves from
their competition,” says Allan
Dieckmann, FCSI, senior man-
ager of hospitality services for
the SmartDesign Group in
Vancouver, Canada. “People
seem willing to pay for the dif-
ferent experience.”

Ahead
Clearly, organic food isn’t going
away. “There will continue to be
an increase in organic because
of customer demand,” says Eric
Giandelone, editorial manager
at Technomic. There is, how-
ever, “a ceiling because of the
supply and willingness of what
customers will pay.” Organic
will be seen less in limited-ser-
vice restaurants, of course, be-
cause “customers have a value
expectation and are less willing
to pay the higher price.”
But more customers than
ever are willing to pay more,
making this one trend that is –
ironically – highly sustainable.

26 theconsultant Bonus Issue 2006