While pledging to follow such a policy is one thing, implementing it is quite another — especially when dealing with a $300 million international empire the size of Puck’s, which runs from frozen foods to dozens of catering and dining operations, including his two namesake restaurants at Downtown Disney.
The company plans to switch to only organic and humanely raised meats and fish by the end of the year — a change that will include the Central Florida locations, now owned by Levy Restaurants. Some changes, such as switching to free-range veal, lamb and chicken and banning foie gras, already have been made at Puck’s flagship Spago restaurant in Beverly Hills.
It’s a topic that’s important to more than just the California cognescenti. Nicole Hunt, 31, who was having lunch recently on the patio at Wolfgang Puck Express in Downtown Disney, said the issue is one that matters to her. “It sounds weird,” she said, “but I think animals that are raised humanely are better for us to eat.” Hunt, who was visiting from the Florida Panhandle, said her mother is a vegetarian solely for humane reasons. “I was leaning that way, but it’s a very difficult lifestyle to maintain.”
It’s also a difficult standard to maintain for suppliers. That’s why Puck has hired Kevin Golding of Golding & Associates, a Seattle-based supply-chain-management firm, to find new purveyors and audit the existing ones. Golding relies on the recommendations of third-party certifiers such as Humane Farm Animal Care in Herndon, Va., and Animal Welfare Institute in Washington.
Golding said he receives calls each week from producers who want to sell their products to the Puck organization. The first thing he asks them is to identify their third-party certifier. “If they come back and say, ‘What are you talking about?’ that’s a flag,” Golding said.
But just because a ranch hasn’t been certified by a third party doesn’t mean it doesn’t employ humane standards.
“The fact is all the cattle in the country are humanely cared for,” said Hal Phillips, president of the Florida Cattlemen’s Association in Kissimmee. Phillips dismissed Puck’s initiative as a marketing scheme and said few cattle ranchers are willing to pay the fee for certification, which can be as much as $1 a head.
Neither Humane Farm Animal Care nor Animal Welfare Institute currently certifies any Florida producers.
Some Prices Might Rise
Cost could be a key to the success of Puck’s socially responsible program.
Joe Essa, executive vice president of Wolfgang Puck Worldwide, said he has budgeted for a 1 percent to 2 percent increase in supply costs, which initially will be absorbed by the company.
“In some cases we may have to raise menu items maybe as much as a dollar or a dollar-fifty,” he added.
After looking over the menu posted outside Wolfgang Puck Cafe, Johnson Martinez, 37, said he would choose to frequent a restaurant that served meats that were humanely raised, but he’d have to consider the price.
“I have a family to feed,” said Martinez of Philadelphia.
That bottom line might be an obstacle for other chefs to follow Puck’s lead.
“You’re taking on a lot of products that cost a lot of money,” said Norman Van Aken of Norman’s restaurant at the Ritz-Carlton Grande Lakes Orlando. For example, a free-range chicken can cost twice as much as its cooped cousin.
Will Harris, owner of White Oak Pastures, a cattle farm in Bluffton, Ga., 35 miles north of Florida’s state line, said his beef, which is certified by Humane Farm Animal Care, costs significantly more than meat from other producers. He said his ground beef might be marked at $6.99 a pound in a supermarket, next to the ground beef from another producer that costs only $2.49.
“It takes an enlightened consumer to make that choice,” Harris said.
Puck sees it as part of his goal to enlighten more of his customers.
“Our motto is really we want to know how we treat what we eat,” the 57-year-old Puck said. He said if he were to take his 12-year-old son to a typical slaughterhouse, he’s sure his son would become a vegetarian.
‘It’s Good Business’
There are some who would say he is jumping on the humane bandwagon because the industry is moving in that direction anyway.
“In this day and age, it’s good business,” said New York-based restaurant consultant Clark Wolf.
Puck said he wants to educate children “about eating well, about buying food and about cooking well.” He is in talks with Disney to produce an animated show for kids about healthful eating and nutrition. And he wants to get the consumer away from the notion that quantity is better than quality.
“Less is more,” he said. “If we eat right, maybe we’ll have more chefs than doctors.”
Orlando Sentinel: Wolfgang Puck’s Motto: We Want to Know How We Treat What We Eat
Posted: July 2, 2007 by Certified Humane
While pledging to follow such a policy is one thing, implementing it is quite another — especially when dealing with a $300 million international empire the size of Puck’s, which runs from frozen foods to dozens of catering and dining operations, including his two namesake restaurants at Downtown Disney.
The company plans to switch to only organic and humanely raised meats and fish by the end of the year — a change that will include the Central Florida locations, now owned by Levy Restaurants. Some changes, such as switching to free-range veal, lamb and chicken and banning foie gras, already have been made at Puck’s flagship Spago restaurant in Beverly Hills.
It’s a topic that’s important to more than just the California cognescenti. Nicole Hunt, 31, who was having lunch recently on the patio at Wolfgang Puck Express in Downtown Disney, said the issue is one that matters to her. “It sounds weird,” she said, “but I think animals that are raised humanely are better for us to eat.” Hunt, who was visiting from the Florida Panhandle, said her mother is a vegetarian solely for humane reasons. “I was leaning that way, but it’s a very difficult lifestyle to maintain.”
It’s also a difficult standard to maintain for suppliers. That’s why Puck has hired Kevin Golding of Golding & Associates, a Seattle-based supply-chain-management firm, to find new purveyors and audit the existing ones. Golding relies on the recommendations of third-party certifiers such as Humane Farm Animal Care in Herndon, Va., and Animal Welfare Institute in Washington.
Golding said he receives calls each week from producers who want to sell their products to the Puck organization. The first thing he asks them is to identify their third-party certifier. “If they come back and say, ‘What are you talking about?’ that’s a flag,” Golding said.
But just because a ranch hasn’t been certified by a third party doesn’t mean it doesn’t employ humane standards.
“The fact is all the cattle in the country are humanely cared for,” said Hal Phillips, president of the Florida Cattlemen’s Association in Kissimmee. Phillips dismissed Puck’s initiative as a marketing scheme and said few cattle ranchers are willing to pay the fee for certification, which can be as much as $1 a head.
Neither Humane Farm Animal Care nor Animal Welfare Institute currently certifies any Florida producers.
Some Prices Might Rise
Cost could be a key to the success of Puck’s socially responsible program.
Joe Essa, executive vice president of Wolfgang Puck Worldwide, said he has budgeted for a 1 percent to 2 percent increase in supply costs, which initially will be absorbed by the company.
“In some cases we may have to raise menu items maybe as much as a dollar or a dollar-fifty,” he added.
After looking over the menu posted outside Wolfgang Puck Cafe, Johnson Martinez, 37, said he would choose to frequent a restaurant that served meats that were humanely raised, but he’d have to consider the price.
“I have a family to feed,” said Martinez of Philadelphia.
That bottom line might be an obstacle for other chefs to follow Puck’s lead.
“You’re taking on a lot of products that cost a lot of money,” said Norman Van Aken of Norman’s restaurant at the Ritz-Carlton Grande Lakes Orlando. For example, a free-range chicken can cost twice as much as its cooped cousin.
Will Harris, owner of White Oak Pastures, a cattle farm in Bluffton, Ga., 35 miles north of Florida’s state line, said his beef, which is certified by Humane Farm Animal Care, costs significantly more than meat from other producers. He said his ground beef might be marked at $6.99 a pound in a supermarket, next to the ground beef from another producer that costs only $2.49.
“It takes an enlightened consumer to make that choice,” Harris said.
Puck sees it as part of his goal to enlighten more of his customers.
“Our motto is really we want to know how we treat what we eat,” the 57-year-old Puck said. He said if he were to take his 12-year-old son to a typical slaughterhouse, he’s sure his son would become a vegetarian.
‘It’s Good Business’
There are some who would say he is jumping on the humane bandwagon because the industry is moving in that direction anyway.
“In this day and age, it’s good business,” said New York-based restaurant consultant Clark Wolf.
Puck said he wants to educate children “about eating well, about buying food and about cooking well.” He is in talks with Disney to produce an animated show for kids about healthful eating and nutrition. And he wants to get the consumer away from the notion that quantity is better than quality.
“Less is more,” he said. “If we eat right, maybe we’ll have more chefs than doctors.”
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