Vendor Partnerships

What is a Partnership?
A vendor-to-vendor partnership at Flavors of the Valley is formed when a farmer (or food producer) pairs up with a restaurant (or caterer, grocer) for the purpose of showcasing locally grown food. The restaurant incorporates a product from the farm into the food sampled at the event. The partnership is a tangible display of the quality and diversity of locally grown food, the skills of the chef in preparing it, and a demonstration of the restaurant’s commitment to purchasing locally grown food. Such visible partnerships help consumers understand how locally grown food is currently being used in the economy. We also aim to promote future business relationships among vendors, while adding interest to the event.

Options for Forming a Partnership

Choose from one of the following options:

1. Choose a farm or restaurant located in the Valley Food & Farm service area with which you already have an established business relationship. Or,
2. Ask the Flavors of the Valley staff to help you make a new connection. At your request we will provide you with a list of registered vendors who would like to be partnered for the event, along with the farm products they will have available in mid-April. We can give you a list of prospective partners based on criteria of interest to you (e.g. only cheese producers). Then the partners work out the details of their partnership. See checklist below. Or,
3. If you are a restaurant vendor and want to use food produced by a farm not participating in the event this year, just remember that the farm must be located within our service area. (A few exceptions may apply.)

Vendors are encouraged to develop as many partnerships as they wish for this event. For example, a chef may wish to incorporate ingredients from several different farms into their sampled food.

Facilitating the formation of vendor partnerships is a free service offered by Flavors of the Valley. When any two businesses form a partnership for this event, they have full responsibility for the details of their partnership. Listed below are typical questions the partners should answer together before finalizing the partnership. Different arrangements work for different partnerships––make an arrangement that makes sense for the two of you!

Checklist for partners:

• What products are being provided by the farmer?
• What recipe/s will the chef/grocer prepare for sampling?
• Will the farmer/producer also be providing samples of their own product? E.g., will the producer sample plain cheese cubes, while the partner chef samples cheese quiche?
• Is the restaurant purchasing the farm products or is the farm providing them at no charge?
• What types of signage will you each display to showcase your partnership for event attendees? If you will be using products from a farm not present at the event, please make arrangements to get their promotional materials for your table.
• Will you each have your own table at the event? Do you want your tables adjacent to each other? If you are sharing a table, how will you divide the space and the registration fees?

Register and pay online or print out and mail in your registration form and payment by March 31.
For more information email Debbie or call (802) 291-9100 x112.