To help local purveyors, provide a new program to members, and celebrate earth day, Jason Seiple, Executive Chef of Latrobe CC, launched a new custom breakfast basket program.
As our world changes daily, so does our role as chef to our members. After establishing our curbside dining program here at Latrobe CC, we taught ourselves how to create recipe videos and we’re using them to sell our product. We’re making grill kits, baking kits, and Easter basket kits. We’ve found ourselves looking for another way to serve our members in this time of extreme restrictions and safety measures.
At Latrobe Country Club we look forward to Earth Day every year. It’s a chance for us to take a look in the mirror and ask, “What can we do better for our community, our members, and our planet?” Last year we eliminated all styrofoam and non-recyclable containers. This year we are looking to helping our local farming and baking communities.
We came up with the idea of a “Local Roots Breakfast Basket.” Our basket will future locally farmed and butchered bacon, farm fresh eggs, locally baked cinnamon raisin bread, and honey quark from another local dairy farm.
We met Chaganra Farms in 2018 when we started our Farm-to-Table program. Using local meats, we featured a different dish each week. Knowing their reputation for being a highly sustainable farm, they were our first choice for our new “Breakfast Baskets.” They provided us with our bacon, eggs, a tour of their farm, and special wooden baskets.
For our bread portion, we looked no further than across the street. The Saint Vincent Gristmill was built by Benedictine Monks and has been operating since 1854. Utilizing a piece of Western Pennsylvania’s agricultural heritage we ordered our cinnamon raisin bread from them to include in our basket.
In order to add a little European flare and an interesting new item for our members to experience, we went to Pleasant Lane Farms for their honey quark, a healthy spread for the cinnamon bread.
Included in our Breakfast Baskets will be business cards and brochures of each local business featured in the package. We started this program just for Earth Day and are planning on selling the baskets from April 20th through April 24th. Since promoting the baskets, we had several other local businesses reach out to us with interest in the program and are hoping that it will be successful enough to run through May 1st.
It is our hope that this custom basket of locally made products will help our members feel a sense of community that is so missed during this age of social distancing. Supporting local business is always important and I believe as chefs it is our responsibility to help support our local community—especially our farmers.
