Why use local produce in your restaurant?
A restaurant that works with local produce supports nearby producers and gains a distinctive story that guests can't find anywhere else. That only brings in guests if the story is also visible online: in reviews, on the Google Business Profile and on the website.
How do you make local produce visible to new guests?
Chef Jeroen de Pauw (Canapé Apéro) works with what he calls local heroes: Flemish producers of chicory, mustard, asparagus, beer and chocolate. Local sourcing only pays off online when it shows up in three places: guests mention the product in their reviews, the Google Business Profile features it in posts, and the website names the producer and the season. If the local product doesn't appear in any of those three places, it doesn't exist for guests who are searching.
Why local instead of imported?
Flanders grows plenty of top-quality produce right in the region. If a product grows in your own garden, there's little point in shipping it in from the other side of the world.
Who are the local heroes?
They're the farmers, brewers and makers from the area. Naming them and their products on the menu, in Google posts and in review replies supports them and sets you apart from the chains at the same time.
What do guests look for in a region?
Travellers want to taste the products that make a country special. At the World Expo in Japan, De Pauw served Flemish chicory, mustard and asparagus to 100 guests in Tokyo.
Why would you buy your products on the other side of the world when you've got them in your own garden?
Frequently asked questions
Which Belgian products work well on a local menu?
Chef Jeroen de Pauw names chicory, mustard, asparagus, Belgian beer, chocolate and waffles as typically Flemish products. He served them to 100 guests at the World Expo in Tokyo. These are products directly tied to the region that guests recognise as something they can't get elsewhere. Seasonal produce such as asparagus also gives the menu a clear rhythm throughout the year.
Why do tourists seek out local produce?
People travelling to another country often want to discover what makes that country special: the tomatoes, the local specialities, the products you can't find anywhere else. A restaurant that clearly highlights its local produce matches that search intent. It works best when the product shows up in Google posts, menu descriptions and reviews, because that's where visitors look before they book.
How can reviews help make local produce easier to find online?
Guests often mention the dishes and products that impressed them in their reviews. A common approach is to ask for reviews at the right moment after the visit and to name the producer or product in your reply. That builds up repeated, relevant text on Google and TripAdvisor, which helps with searches for local produce combined with the name of your town.
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Video transcript
I think it's very important to work with local products for different reasons. The first thing is that, yeah, you have to be proud of your roots, where you're coming from. And like we are living in Flanders in Belgium, we've got a lot of very perfect products in the area.
So I don't understand why you're gonna buy your products on the other side of the world if you've got it in your garden. You have to support your people around you and, and the local heroes. I call them the local heroes.
Got so many great products, so I really try to, to work with them. Um, it's also kind of, kind of ambassador also of our own products because that's also what, what I think is very interesting when I go to another country. I really want to explore their products and their tomatoes and their, um, all the things that, that they've got really in this country that, that makes this, this country special.
So that's also the reason why I want to work with it in Belgium, and I also want to show it to the world because that's one of my, of my next missions. That is, um, try to, to let the world taste all the good things that you've got in Belgium. Yeah, I was in, in Japan at the World Expo to cook with all products from my neighborhood, from the Flemish part of Belgium.
And I was there with 100 people in Tokyo to let them taste our chicory or mustard or really the beers from Belgium, the chocolate, the waffles, asparagus. So really the things from, from our side. And yeah, it's very...
it's great that I can do it.