Herb Garden

Herb Garden Recommendation :

Herb Garden Recommendation By: Tiffany Hardin

Introductory Summary :

Introductory Summary After being asked to create new specials for the restaurant using classic Italian herbs, I came up with an idea to make our very own herb garden. As you know all of our entrees include fresh flat leaf parsley, sage, or basil to give our food the true Italian taste. I done some researching on growing these three herbs here in California. (Cont.)

Introductory Summary:

Introductory Summary I checked several websites, and even went into a herb market to get information on growing herbs. It turns out that our lot right behind the restaurant would be great to plant herbs. We have the right climate and just enough room to grow lots of fresh herbs. I highly recommend that we start growing our own supply of Italian herbs.

Advantages :

Advantages The quality in taste of our main dishes would be greatly improved by the use of fresh herbs. Other non authentic Italian restaurants use mainly dried herbs that no one can see or really taste. I truly believe when people go out to eat real Italian food they want and love the freshness of the herbs in their food. (Cont.)

Advantages:

Advantages I think by adding fresh herbs it gives our food a distinctive taste, and will remind our customers of how their mom, or grandmother used to make the dish. The quality of our dishes means everything to me, and if we can improve the quality we are sure to keep our customers completely satisfied. (Cont.)

Advantages:

Advantages By having our own herb garden out back we would be able to produce a mass quantity of parsley, basil, and sage. It may take a little time to get our garden up and thriving, but it will. Just think of it- no more running out of herbs, or having to skimp on herbs in the middle of a huge Sunday rush. (Cont.)

Advantages:

Advantages When the kitchen runs out all we will have to do is go outside, and pick our own organically grown herbs. Most of these herbs will produce more just by losing their seeds. If we chose to use dry herbs it would really be a risk to the taste of our dishes. Dried herbs aren’t as fragrant, and you can barely see them. (Cont..)

Advantages:

Advantages I personally don’t want to jeopardize our wonderful dishes by only having enough fresh herbs to sprinkle or garnish with. I want our customers to be able to taste each individual herb in our sauces, and marinades. You can never have enough parsley, sage, and basil in a Italian restaurant. (Cont.)

Advantages:

Advantages I know our back lot needs some work, and looks a bit rough. We could change the feel of the area back there . Our customers would be able to look out and see exactly where there herbs are coming from. These three herbs look great, and would add a lot of character to our empty lot. (cont)

Advantages:

Advantages I also researched on how long fresh herbs last if we were to decide to just purchase them. Unfortunately for us basil has a very short storage, so we would have to use it as soon as we got it in. If we have our own supply none of the herbs would go to waste, and this would save money in the long run.

Disadvantages:

Disadvantages A big disadvantage would be weeds in the herb garden. Staff would have to regularly pull up weeds. I know it isn’t a great job, and isn’t a job description for the chef, or waiters. However, everyone in the kitchen could take turns weeding the garden. (Cont.)

Disadvantages:

Disadvantages The lot we have shouldn’t take no more than 30-40 minutes a couple times a week. I think it would be a small sacrifice on everyone’s behalf so that we could have lots of fresh herbs to cook with. Now in the meantime we would have to buy herbs while waiting for ours to grow. (Cont.)

Disadvantages:

Disadvantages I looked into how much these three herbs will cost us in the meantime. It is a bit pricey, but would be temporary. Another downfall would be that the boxes of herbs delivered could potentially go bad, or wilt faster, or the supplier could run out. We just couldn’t substitute dried herbs for fresh ones. (Cont.)

Disadvantages:

Disadvantages It would be a necessary purchase. It does take around 2 months to grow our herbs. It is inconvenient to have to buy herbs in those months. We could lose money, and we might have to throw out some of the herbs that are delivered if they go bad. I do think the garden would be worth the risk.

Conclusion:

Conclusion Every authentic Italian restaurant should have their very own herb garden, if they have the room. Freshness in the food is what people can taste, and is what they want. Sure it may take sometime and money, but it will pay off in the end. The advantages really outweigh the disadvantages on this matter. (Cont.)

Conclusion:

Conclusion Parsley, basil, and sage are used in every single recipe we have. They are the traditional flavors of Italian cooking, so it is vital that we have large amounts on hand. As the head Chef of the restaurant I highly recommend that you take into consideration of having our own herb garden. (Cont.)

Conclusion:

Conclusion If you agree I will personally oversee all of the details and preparations of the herb garden. Thank you for your time.