Farm-to-table
Farm-to-table (or farm-to-fork, and in some cases farm-to-school) is a social movement which promotes serving local food at restaurants and school cafeterias, preferably through direct acquisition from the producer (which might be a winery, brewery, ranch, fishery, or other type of food producer which is not strictly a "farm"). This might be accomplished by a direct sales relationship, a community-supported agriculture arrangement, a farmer's market, a local distributor or by the restaurant or school raising its own food. Farm-to-table often incorporates a form of food traceability (celebrated as "knowing where your food comes from") where the origin of the food is identified to consumers. Often restaurants cannot source all the food they need for dishes locally, so only some dishes or only some ingredients are labelled as local.
Farm-to-table
More recently restaurateurs have tried to democratize the farm-to-table movement by opening fast-casual restaurants that offer locally sourced food at a relatively affordable price point. Sweetgreen, a farm-to-table salad chain has experienced exponential growth since opening in 2007 in Washington D.C, and now has more than 60 locations across the United States. The salad bar chain, started on the premise of sourcing food as locally as possible. The chain "works with more than 500 farmers" to limit the distance food travels across all their locations, requiring each region to build relationships with their local farm community. In New York, another fast casual concept, Dig Inn, has gained popularity with their "farm-to-counter" model. In 2016, Dig Inn announced they intend to buy and manage their own farm. While they don't plan to source all their food from their farm, it will be a place for education and to learn "exactly how things grow". Both of these restaurant concepts have received noteworthy funding, as investors gain more interest in food startups, particularly those connecting to the local food system. Consumer interest is high enough that Applebee's has even explored the farm-to-table concept. Over the summer of 2014, the chain released a location-specific menu option: the Grilled Vidalia Onion Sirloin, in Georgia. It took six months to plan and was only available for a limited period.