By RYAN DEZEMBER
Staff Reporter
GULF SHORES — Getting local seafood was never a problem for Lulu's at Homeport Marina.
And since this spring, the restaurant has bought its beef from a family farm near Clayton, Ala. Now, Lulu's management is thinking about how it might acquire produce from Alabama's fields.
Each year, for example, the restaurant buys about 61,000 tomatoes — 39,000 green, 22,000 red — at a price of about 65 cents apiece, general manager Johnny Fisher said. That works out to nearly $40,000 worth of tomatoes.
"So," he wondered, "would that be enough to get someone to build a hothouse and start growing tomatoes?"
"I would say so — yes," said Don Wambles, director of the Farmers Market Authority, a state agency charged with promoting Alabama-grown foods.
For the last two years, the agency has pursued an initiative to match farmers with chefs. It now helps about 40 restaurateurs find locally grown ingredients.
Mobile Press-Register
