An owner of a catering company in Co. Limerick, who wanted to give customers an authentic farm-to-fork experience, has just planted his first vegetable crop.
Master Chefs has begun its first vegetable and crop planting on a 20ac farm in Co. Limerick owned by Pat O’Sullivan, CEO and founder of Master Chefs.
It’s part of his aim to get closer to carbon neutral and have a zero-waste business.
The vision for the farm at Ballyneety, Limerick is to grow, harvest and supply all of the Master Chefs outlets and events nationwide with its own organically grown vegetables, crops and salad ingredients.
The farm has been tilled and fertilised in recent weeks. Now ready for planting, the seed drills are set to sow the organic plants which have been propagated in nearby Co. Tipperary.
This first phase of planting will yield growth of a range of vegetables including carrots; parsnips; turnips; broccoli; kale; leeks; cabbage; and potatoes, all of which will supply Master Chefs’ central production kitchen and its food outlets.
The food catering company will use the farm as the base for all Master Chefs food waste to be composted and replenished back into the soil, delivering on the ethos of farm-to-table-to-farm.
“We’re so excited and inspired to have reached this milestone in Master Chefs,” Pat O’Sullivan said.
“Our vision has always been to serve the ultimate food menu to all of our clients with the freshest and best-quality ingredients.
“Now with our own farm, we can watch our crops grow organically and be 100% confident that we’re serving the absolute best to our clients.
“It’s always been our ambition to be at this juncture and it also solidifies our strategic objective of being a closed-circle, carbon neutral, zero-waste business; we grow, compost, and fertilise, which makes Master Chefs very unique.”
Michelle O’Donnell, executive chef at Master Chefs, has led the food team for over a decade and said that she is thrilled to be part of this new chapter in the company’s growth.
“This is an entirely new way of food menu planning and preparation for us and I’m seriously excited to go to the farm to pick our fresh vegetables on a daily basis,” she said.
Pat will attend the Irish Restaurant Awards tonight (Monday, May 15), in the hope of winning the title of National Food Hero, after winning Limerick’s Local Food Hero earlier this year.
“I myself worked as a chef from my early teens until I stepped into the business side. I absolutely love what I do and the development of the farm is another milestone on our journey. We have an insatiable drive to always be the best,” he said.