A new year brings new promises, and new challenges. With some recent thought, we have adapted and
enhanced our offerings to reflect an evolving hospitality and tourism market, along with changing the
needs of our collective consumers. Many of you are aware of our private chef services, and private culinary
experiences, but we figured it may be a good time to elaborate on our full line of culinary services we
plan to offer moving forward. The motivation is simple: we are merely 1 stop in a vacation or visit to our region, and the betterment of the industry can help shrink the shoulder seasons, and possibly help our peers and collegues the opportunity to work towards their potential for success.
The continued challenges facing the farming industry, along with wine and hospitality, are widely
publicized. From staffing shortages, housing and high rising food costs to high insurance and mortgage
rates-these industries face unprecedented need for an evolution themselves. We are no stranger to
these challenges, but it is the steps we as consumers and operators that will make the difference
between thriving and surviving, and potential closure from increased costs of operation. Pair this with
our region’s seasonality, it brings forth necessary planning and likely opportunities not yet considered. It
is easy to point fingers at generational work ethic, politics, climate change, living costs and the above-
mentioned for a drop in business, which is why we think that collectively we can shift some of the
anxiety of the unknown, to a focus on the things we can control. We need to be realistic in our
approach, as the consumer base is still looking to spend their hard-earned money on “experiences”, and
consistent, quality minded ones. It is, after all, hard to build a reputation for quality, but it is even harder
to restore a reputation once tarnished by inconsistency, or not meeting or exceeding customer
expectations. It is in our experience, especially this past season, that discerning clients are no longer
willing to spend on experiences where the value doesn’t match the price. Shortstaffing, poor
management or mentorship are one of the largest causes of a loss in business volumes. The time in our
collective industries is harder than it has ever been. But, we can change things if we are forward thinking
enough, and we feel that a combined effort to do better can help our region come closer to the
potential we all know it possesses.
So how can we help you may wonder? Well over the past 10 years in business, combined with 29 years
of culinary industry experience, we have some ideas. Hospitality is about people, after all. Building
strong relationships is critical to success, both with your consumer base, and with your management
and hospitality team. Ensuring your team is confident, well trained, supported and feeling secure in their position is
paramount. Doing this is not difficult, but it does take dedication in building a culture within your team.
The reality of the negative news and ever changing business climate needs to be set aside for this to
work well. A positive and encouraging approach speaks volumes as to your vision for success. We are
using the opportunity through the evolution of our hospitality industry to offer a few solutions. These solutions are consulting offerings, and can be tailored to suit your specific needs, from merely a meeting and conversation, or something more involved.
Hospitality, Culinary and Leadership Consulting
Service training and mentorship:
We offer tailored training to service teams and management. Every business has different needs, and
we channel our experiences to customize these needs. Table service and maintenance, along with
mentorship regarding building a strong and confident, cohesive approach between front of house and
back of house teams. Small tools and details can solidify a strong message of unity. It is of course the
role of front of house to represent the efforts of the culinary team, while also managing the service of
the guests. It is critical that the service team feels confident in the product they are representing
through their hospitality efforts.
Culinary Mentorship
Sharing tools and information to encourage a positive, creative, consistent and inspired culinary team
makes a huge difference in the results. It is also critical to develop a culinary program reflective of the
strength of the overall team. Adapting menu offerings to the “tools” in the toolbox is critical. In a
seasonal environment, this is more imperative, as it is easy to take in the captive audience during the
peak, often leading to overwhelming the staff and management. With a quality minded, consistent
product and service, exclusivity allows for a more sustainable approach. Long story short, if you are
challenged by short staffing, or inexperienced team members, invest in training and have the business
volumes reflect the staffing. It is more likely that the quality of the experience, although perhaps
“exclusive”, will be better received than an experience that doesn’t meet the expectations of the guest.
Yes, businesses need to be profitable, but the revenues should never outweigh the value of the
experience. We can be helpful by offering consulting in regard to:
-culinary leadership training
-financial management specific to food and labour cost controls and structuring, as well as menu
development and implementation.
-recipe development and costing training including standardized forms and formulas
-commercial kitchen design and organization, in coordination with Interior Health guidelines
-Supplier contacts and connections
-waste management and processing (reducing food costs)
-food and wine pairing knowledge: for menu pairing, and from the culinary perspective.
Industry Collaboration
-Wine pairing recipes for wine club membership engagement
-Food and Wine pairing events: Backyard Farm is available for private culinary experiences featuring the
wines, or spirits of your business. Offering a private space for up to 20 guests(including principals),
tickets are marketed and sold by you directly. We offer cross promotion through our website. The space
itself negates the need for rentals, early closure and a true sense of place with our “table to farm”
approach. Menus are tailored specific to the wine or spirits served, based upon seasonal and locally
procured ingredients. We prefer to offer this opportunity as a private partnered event at Backyard Farm,
not a “Backyard Farm Event”. We feel this is a great opportunity to reward or pay tribute to wine club
members, or potential new members with an exclusive event.
-Customized Handcrafted Chocolate Packages and Retail Preserves. Schedule permitting, we can fulfill
orders of handcrafted chocolate packages, derived from local ingredients and from our farm, and
utilizing spirits in some of the fillings for a personal touch.
Chef in Residence
With the recent closure of a few notable restaurants in our region, we have concluded an opportunity
exists to bring our food philosophies to another kitchen. Although our schedule fills quickly, an
opportunity exists to offer our hospitality and food program for exclusive dates offsite. In a fully
accessible kitchen, we can provide the food and service we have been recognized for, to your facility.
This offering would be dependent on our availability, with seating being promoted cohesively with the
client. All details and finalizing would be handled by us to ensure a quality approach to our services.
Private Services and Catering
We will continue to offer our private chef services and catering for offsite events. We do offer catering
and private chef services for weddings, special events, as well as winery/brewery and distillery pairing
events. We feel this is a unique way to reward and encourage continued client engagement within your
club memberships.
Private event bookings can be arranged in private residences and offsite venues. Details, rental needs
and menu development will be specific to each client, and all coordination will be personalized. We also
travel with our services, with travel and accommodation needs provided by the client. Peak season
dates make travel more difficult, but we are always willing to entertain travel to Vancouver, Calgary,
Toronto or otherwise-should we be able to make it work.
For pricing details, to set up a meeting, or for further inquiries, reach out to us and we can forward our
pricing package directly to you.
Corporate Retreats and Events
Backyard Farm is an inspiring place to host a private corporate retreat or meeting. Located on our 2 acre
orchard, we can adapt our services to reflect the needs of the corporate client. Whether it is a CEO
forum, or strategizing meetings, we can provide elevated hospitality, unobtrusive service and an
inspiring space for planning and strategizing. Private bookings can enjoy both the indoor and outdoor
spaces and gardens for breaks, and menus will be developed with scheduling being the focus.
Rational Icombi Demonstrations and Chef Training
If you are a chef or restaurateur looking to upgrade your kitchen facility, we may be able to help. For the
opast 5 years, we have enjoyed working with our Icombi pro, and it has been incredibly helpful in
elevating our menu development and food program at Backyard Farm Chef’s Table. Additionally, it has
proven a great resource in labour savings as well as product yields. As a Rational Certified chef, I can
share knowledge through tailored training to enable a kitchen team with and Icombi to use this piece of
equipment to its fullest potential. Additionally, we offer demonstrations at Backyard Farm, the first
Tuesday of every month for those who may be interested in assessing the capabilities of Rational in your
kitchen. Reach out to us for details, or to sign up for a Rational Live demonstration at Backyard Farm
starting in February.
Although a bit wordy, we are excited to elaborate on our services. It is our intent to offer some of our
insight into how we can make positive changes in an industry that needs the evolution. The industry is
changing, and we all need to change along with it. If we can help share a bit of knowledge and insight,
while being helpful in sharing success with some of our peers troubled by the challenge, it is the consumer that truly benefits-and the trickle down effect is one that we will all feel. Knowledge is wasted if not shared, and for those who may benefit from our experience, trials and uncertainty, we can be here to help work through the short term strain of operating a hospitality business in the South Okanagan. If any of these consulting offerings are of interest, reach out to us and we can arrange a call or meeting to assess your needs and discuss our involvement, pricing and availability.
We love it here, as do so many, so let’s try to do better, do different and take care of each other.
All of our services can be adjusted and tailored to your specific needs. Please let us know if any of these
services can be helpful in achieving success for your business and team. Please recognize that we will
not commit our time in any of our services, should the quality be at risk of not reaching our guests
expectations. Furthermore, priority will always be made to ensure our farm, business and family benefit
from our ability to make sure our schedule is manageable.