Local Purchasing
Ingredient Sourcing Emphasizing Local Product Providers
Local purchasing is an important part of our overall purchasing strategy and we therefore partner with local farms and vendors whenever possible. We believe it is important to provide local produce, dairy, and other main meal components for increased quality and freshness, and to support our local economies.
We require all our vendors to adhere to the same strict quality guidelines as our regional and national suppliers. One requirement is that farms follow Good Agricultural Practices (GAP), including approved testing of their water quality and irrigation process. We also have safety and packaging expectations that must be in place to ensure that quality and integrity of all products are maintained, as well as HACCP plans, lot traceability, full ingredient and allergen disclosure, and satisfactory third party audit results.
Our policy is to source locally whenever available and in season. We currently source an average of 52% of our product mix locally, either through our distributors or by developing partnerships directly with local vendors. Some of the core items sourced locally include produce, dairy, fresh bakery items, juices, water, coffee, pizza dough, beef and poultry, seafood, dressings, pastas, and snacks.