Artisanal produce for forward-thinking chefs.
“I'm a dirt farmer,” says Farmer Lee Jones of the Culinary Vegetable Institute at the Chef's Garden in Milan, Ohio, dressed in his trademark denim overalls and red bowtie. “We get to grow vegetables and our goal is to grow the most flavorful, nutritious, sexiest vegetables on the planet. And we get to grow them for some of the greatest chefs in the world.”
“I've been a farmer all my life and I can't think of doing anything else.”
For over 35 years, the Chef’s Garden has provided specialty produce direct from the farm to some of the world's most renowned chefs. Under the guidance of Farmer Lee Jones and his brother Bob Jones, Jr. – and before them, their father, Bob Jones, Sr., – the Chef's Garden uses regenerative farming techniques along with innovative technology to stay on the forefront of the produce industry. The family farm grows hundreds of varieties of nutritious, long-lasting, high-quality, and sometimes rare, vegetables.
A destination for hundreds of visiting chefs annually.
The Culinary Vegetable Institute at the Chef’s Garden is a place for forward-thinking food and beverage professionals to come for research and development, where they can bring their culinary teams to learn in a new environment using different equipment and techniques. It’s also a place for rest and relaxation, and a corporate events and team building venue.
“We have about 600 chefs a year, and it's so important for us as we try and stay on the cutting edge in vegetables and growing and providing the healthiest, most nutritious, most flavorful vegetables in the world,” Farmer Lee says. “I think that RATIONAL and the Chef's Garden go together like a sock and a shoe. It's the best equipment, the best vegetables.”
For the hundreds of visiting chefs and farmers that walk through the doors each year, the Culinary Vegetable Institute is a destination, and they come expecting to discover creative new ways of working with vegetables. It’s an inspirational setting that calls for powerful, advanced kitchen equipment.
“RATIONAL is dead center in that kitchen as a member of the family and a member of the farm,” says Jamie Simpson, Executive Chef Liaison at the Culinary Vegetable Institute. “RATIONAL supports this family of forward-thinking like-minded food and beverage professionals and farmers in our ability to think about things a little differently.”
“There is not another place in the world where you can walk out into a garden with over 600 varieties of vegetables, take your pick, bring it into a kitchen, and cook that walk through the garden,” Simpson says.
“Every day the dinner changes. Every day the dish is different directly as a result of the farm. What makes RATIONAL special is it gives us the flexibility to do that.”
‘It always comes down to relationships’
Farmer Lee agrees. “What we're trying to do is provide amazing flavors, textures, colors, shapes, sizes that can really create that ‘wow’ on the plate. And it's so exciting for us at the farm to grow the vegetables, but then see the amazing creativity of how they use the vegetables.”
“RATIONAL has been an amazing partner for us,” Farmer Lee says. RATIONAL has a dozen corporate chefs and a comprehensive aftercare support program that ensures customers receive all the assistance they need.
“They've got integrity, and it's one thing to have the technology and the innovation, the best quality, but it always comes down to relationships. And we're just so excited to work with everybody within RATIONAL. They're eager and open to whatever we're doing, and it's been an amazing partnership and we look forward to that for many years to come.”
- The challenge:
Provide a cutting-edge kitchen environment where forward-thinking chefs and farmers come to learn. - The solution:
2 – iCombi Pro
Customer benefits:
iCombi Pro
- iCookingSuite – monitoring and support to deliver results exactly as specified
- iProduction Manager – allows you to prepare different foods at the same time
- iCare System – automatic cleaning and descaling
- iDensity Control – intelligent climate management for exceptional productivity and results