The Farmers Diner

Local First Vermont

The Farmers Diner - "Food From Here" - is a great diner based on a simple idea: Prepare and serve hearty meals with fresh ingredients from area farmers and small-scale producers.

Where did such a simple yet profound idea come from?

An epiphany... In 1999, as the result of a caffeine-induced epiphany, Tod Murphy saw the possibilities that could be created for family farmers if the local economy of his great-grandmother's day could be combined with the current world of vertical integration, economies of scale, and information technology.

The basic premise is one Tod's great-grandmother Ida taught him when he was a wee lad. In 1933, she was able to bring the extra produce of the farm to town with her every Saturday to sell to local grocers. Today that simple, secure local "supply chain" has transmogrified into an international chain dependent upon huge inputs of petroleum, many middlemen, and expensive marketing campaigns to convince us all that we need such important items as purple ketchup.

The Farmers Diner is recreating the 1933 supply chain by connecting a web of producers with a central commissary and then distributing that food to The Farmers Diner restaurants.

The hope for a restored rural economy rests in companies that make purchases as did companies in his great-grandmother's economy, while reducing costs by the use of information technologies and economies of scale. So Tod created such a company, The Farmers Diner.

The Farmers Diner demonstrates that buying local and regional foods and making them available to the entire community is possible and profitable. Tod strives to spend more than 65 cents of every food dollar with farmers and small-scale food producers who live and work within 70 miles of the diner. From the success of this diner, The Farmers Diner will build more diners, first in Vermont and then regionally, to continue the good work of reviving strong rural communities.

The goal is a national network of Farmers Diner restaurants, serving typical diner food sourced from local area farmers and producers. Tod expects The Farmers Diner to be a leader in family/casual dining because local fresh food tastes superior, customers prefer to support their neighbors and communities, and The Diner will always provide great service at reasonable prices.

Read more: Burgers à la Thomas Jefferson, from Orion Magazine.