According to their website, Farm Club is "a gathering place to celebrate land, honest food, and community." Farm Club opened in one of the least ideal times in recent history - at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020. The limitations of this time did not stop the organization from fully accomplishing their goals. They started as an outdoor-service only restaurant in 2020 and slowly expanded the fully operating, wholesome restaurant experience it is today. Listed below is a brief outline of the 5 tiers that make up this organization. Each tier is well-staffed with multiple managers that lead the departments and communicate with each other to ensure seamless operations. They are located 7 miles from Downtown Traverse City in Leelanau County, Michigan.
Farm
At Farm Club, everything revolves around the farm. There are 2 acres on Farm Club's property, and a larger operation at the sister organization, Loma Farm that has 8 acres. No matter which department of the organization you are based, every Farm Club employee is required to complete regular shifts at the farm location to ensure connection and familiarity with the operations and crop rotations.
Restuarant
Market
Bakery
Brewery
Food Preparation and Waste Practices
All items a guest can order at the restaurant come directly from the farm. This means that the menu is planned 12-18 months in advance. The crop rotation and farm production directly affects what is available in the menu, which means it can change much more often than a typical restaurant. If for some reason they are short of something, Farm Club has a network of local farmers to fill the gaps of goods they many need. According to the restaurant's General Manager, Farm Club also has the only mill in Northern Michigan. This means they can mill grains to create their bread, pasta, and other baked goods.
While the menu is planned to avoid waste, there are practices to prevent this from being a large issue. Farm Club has multiple practices to ensure food is not wasted. While the food is monitored by restaurant staff for expiration, and will be cooked if necessary for soups, sauces, or prepared into to-go meals in their market. They also give unsellable food to employees and compost the rest. This compost is then used to fertilize their farms. They even repurpose spent grain from brewing for local farmer to use for their livestock.
Triple Bottom Line
Farm Club's business structure and operations dutifully exemplify the triple bottom line which can be stated as: Environment, Equity, and Economy. These aspects of the triple bottom line show up clearly in the organization's mission to "celebrate land, honest food, and community." Education and community is built into everything they do. Since all staff have regular shifts at the farm, they can speak directly to the process of farm-to-table experience. In, the staff and owners at Farm Club prefer to call themselves "a restuarant on farm." That is how they all see the relationship to the source of the food they serve. In addition to having fresh produce and to-go meals in their market, they also have books and other goods to help people take home the experience of farm-to-table living and make it a reality in their own lives. If you check Farm Club's Instagram account, you will see the wide variety of social and educational offerings they have for the community. They also seek to have a positive internal community through a dedicated healthy work environment. The Farm Club leadership is dedicated to personal growth and development for those who choose to work at their company. Community leads to another part of the Triple Bottom line: Economy. Farm Club enriches the Traverse City area economy by being a tourist destination. Word has gotten out about how special Farm Club is and people travel far distances to visit. They have lovely merch to show off your trip and clothing that is a fashion statement on its own. The last part of the triple bottom line is Environment. This is a core aspect of Farm Club's operations and existence. In their own practice, farming in a way that preserves the soil and creates fertile land is at the center of their work. In addition, creating a space where people can get locally grown and prepared food reduces distance it has to travel to get to consumers.
All images come directly from Farm Club's website and social media, linked at the top of this page.