Selling to restaurants is selling to chefs, and chefs buy what's consistent: the same quality, the same pack, on the same day every week. Start with restaurants whose menus already use what you grow or make, within the distance you can deliver cold. Visit in the quiet hours, mid-afternoon between lunch and dinner, with samples and a one-page price sheet: restaurant prices below what you charge at the market, the pack sizes, a minimum order, and the day orders close for each delivery. Chefs who like it start with a trial and move to a standing order, the same pounds every week, adjusted by a text when the menu changes. Send an availability list before each order day, deliver on fixed days, invoice with clear terms, and tell the chef early when a harvest comes up short. A restaurant pound earns less than a market pound but sells every week without a stall fee. In the example below, an Asheville mushroom farm runs five restaurant accounts. Below are the steps, the price sheet, the example, and a free account sheet.
The short version
- Pick restaurants whose menus already use what you sell, within your cold delivery range.
- Visit mid-afternoon, between lunch and dinner, with samples.
- Hand over a one-page price sheet: restaurant prices, packs, minimums, order deadlines.
- Aim for standing orders: the same amount every week.
- Send an availability list before each order day; deliver on fixed days.
- Invoice with clear terms, and warn chefs early about shortages.
- Restaurant prices are lower than market prices, but the volume is steady.
- TaroStack turns standing orders into sales orders and picking lists. More below.
The steps
| Step | What it means |
|---|---|
| Choose restaurants | Menus that use your product; places you can reach cold on a fixed day |
| Visit at the right time | Mid-afternoon, not during service; ask for the chef or kitchen manager |
| Bring samples | Enough to cook with, packed as you'd deliver |
| Price sheet | Restaurant prices, packs, minimums, delivery days, order deadlines |
| Trial, then standing order | A few weeks of trial orders, then the same amount every week |
| Availability list | Sent before each order day: what's plentiful, what's short |
| Delivery | Fixed days, cold, with an invoice |
| Terms | On delivery, net 15 or net 30, written on the invoice |
| Paperwork | Your business license, insurance certificate, and food safety status if asked |
For farms, FDA's produce rule counts restaurants in the same state or within 275 miles as qualified end-users, which matters for its qualified exemption (21 CFR 112.3); more in mushroom business license. Payment terms are in net 30 terms, and the invoice in wholesale invoice template.
The price sheet
| Product | Pack | Restaurant price | Minimum | Order by |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Oyster mushrooms | 1 lb paper bag | $11.00 a lb | 3 lb | Sunday for Tuesday, Wednesday for Friday |
| Lion's mane | 1 lb paper bag | $14.00 a lb | 2 lb | Sunday for Tuesday, Wednesday for Friday |
| Microgreens mix | 1 lb bag | Ask | 1 lb | Sunday for Tuesday |
Restaurant packs are bigger and plainer than market packs, which keeps the cost down; how the packs compare is in how to package mushrooms for sale.
An example: an Asheville mushroom farm
Hilltop Greens, the made-up microgreens and mushroom farm in Asheville, North Carolina, I use in these examples, sells oyster mushrooms to five restaurants, and two of them added lion's mane this fall:
| Restaurant | Delivery | Oyster lb a week | Lion's mane lb a week | Terms |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| The Grove Bistro | Tuesday | 30 | 6 | Net 15 |
| Mill Street Kitchen | Tuesday | 25 | 4 | Net 15 |
| Bramble Ramen | Friday | 15 | 0 | On delivery |
| Ridgeline Tavern | Friday | 12 | 3 | Net 30 |
| Lantern Pizza | Friday | 10 | 0 | On delivery |
| Week | 92 | 13 |
At $11 a pound for oysters and $14 for lion's mane, the week's restaurant sales come to $1,194, and after costs of $6.55 and $9.52 a pound they leave $467.64. The 92 pounds use 84% of a 110-pound week, so a sixth restaurant would need more blocks first. A market pound brings $18 in two boxes against $11 from a chef, as in mushroom farm business plan, but the chefs buy every week, rain or shine.
Get the account sheet
Download the restaurant account sheet. Two sheets: accounts, each restaurant's delivery day, standing order by product and terms, with the week's sales, what they leave after costs, and how much of your capacity they use; and a price sheet to hand a chef. It's an ordinary Excel file with no macros, and it works in Google Sheets, LibreOffice and Numbers.
Where this stops working
Five standing orders, two delivery days, a chef who doubles an order by text on Monday, and invoices on three different terms: a sheet holds the plan, not the week as it happens.
How TaroStack does it
TaroStack turns standing orders into sales orders and picking lists, and keeps each harvest's lot.
Orders by date. Each restaurant's delivery is a sales order for its day, and the day's orders make one picking list, earliest harvests first, with a delivery note for each stop.
Each harvest a lot. A harvest is a batch with a lot and its date, recorded on each restaurant's order as it ships, so one recall report shows every chef a harvest reached.
Margins by customer. Margins are reported by product and by customer, so the restaurants that pay their way show up.
| The job | Notebook | In TaroStack |
|---|---|---|
| Tuesday's deliveries | Add up the texts | Sales orders by date |
| Packing the route | Written lists | One picking list, delivery notes |
| Which chef got a harvest | Memory | Lots recorded as it ships |
Sales orders, batches, lots and margin reports are on every plan, from $49 a month. The first 30 days are free, with no credit card. If you'd like a hand setting up, ask, and we'll do it with you.