While celebrity chefs often wax lyrical about the benefits of organic, there is in fact only one fully certified organic restaurant in Ireland.
The Strawberry Tree is part of Brooklodge - AA hotel of the year - nestled in the Wicklow Mountains.
Certified by the Organic Trust, the Strawberry Tree only serves dishes with organic or wild ingredients.
Apart from the Strawberry Tree, there are an increasing number of restaurants in Ireland serving some organic food, and a few with the word organic or a variant in the title. Some of these are currently applying for organic certification.
The overall food services area - from public service canteens to restaurants - is an underdeveloped route to market for organic producers.
Currently, research is underway into the whole area of supplying restaurants with organic food.
Consultant Siobhan Morris is conducting the research, which initially focused on the border regions.
According to Siobhan, the aim is to construct an �audit of the challenges and opportunities for both chefs and producers in order to find ways to help them better work together�.
She outlined some of the issues: �something of a rocky relationship exists between independent producers and the food service sector�.
Various doubts about the option exist on both sides �from poor payment of invoices and ignorance over what is available through the seasons on one side, to accusations of erratic quality and unreliable deliveries on the other� according to Siobhan.
Producers also fear the clich� that restaurants expect to pay half-nothing. Restaurant owners and chefs dislike the hassle of multiple micro suppliers, while also being unsure about issues around certification.
She goes on �so hopefully this study will, for the first time, examine the truths behind the hearsay in a constructive manner. Positive relationships can be forged and do exist, so an honest appraisal of this should be useful to any would-be buyer or supplier.�
Whatever about the difficulties, once operational, supplying restaurants offers up many benefits for producers.
Having multiple routes to market is less risky than having one buyer only.
There are also �opportunities to profile your business on local menus, increasing awareness and direct sales� according to Siobhan.
She goes on �and once the relationship and routine is established, there is the comfort of secure weekly orders and the ease of a single transaction�
This type of regularity allows producers to plan ahead and expand.
While restaurants are feeling the pinch and offering better value options, organic producers can adapt to this too.
Organic lamb and beef burgers from individual producers are popping up on more and more menus in well regarded eateries, from Bodega in Waterford to The Farm in Dublin.
Indeed with Jo� burger and the Gourmet Burger Bars of Dublin getting excellent reviews and commendations across the food press, posh burgers might be replacing fillet steaks for many eating out.
Siobhan outlined some of her broader aims in her research �I�m keen to explore the idea of developing growing (or farming) plans where chefs and producers sit down and look at what kinds of produce, varieties of veg or cuts of meat, could be supplied the following year.
�This would give both parties time to plan ahead while also encouraging an informal commitment to each other which might develop into a happy professional working relationship that benefits both sides over time�
�As part of it I will be looking out for any confusion amongst chefs about what they believe they can say on menus about the provenance of their ingredients, and what 'proof' they need - essentially demystifying the use of organic produce in restaurants that are not organically certified themselves�.
While you could just wait to see what the findings are, if you are an organic producer interested in supplying the food services sector, I�d highly recommend getting involved in the research now.
It can only be of benefit to the producer to start engaging with researchers and a broad base of possible customers.
Siobhan can be contacted on: her site or on 087 7755799
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