Higgins Restaurant

Sustainable Business Network of Portland

As an avid bicyclist, Greg Higgins enjoyed his long and winding rides along the farmlands in Oregon’s Willamette Valley during the 1980s. He took pleasure in the looks on farmers’ faces as he stopped to introduce himself and talk about his desire for an increased supply of locally grown ingredients at the popular hotel restaurant where he was the head chef.

When Greg opened his own high-end restaurant, Higgins, in downtown Portland in 1994, he was carrying out his longtime vision - a restaurant featuring locally grown organic foods and a menu that shifted with the seasons. Although his innovative menu received rave reviews from connoisseurs, the early years were not without their challenges. A restaurant limiting its offerings to foods that were locally in season was a new concept and left some customers wanting favorite, familiar ingredients.

And while Greg had developed a fairly extensive network of local farmers, he could not always find suitable quantities of certain seasonal ingredients. With few restaurants in the area focused on buying locally, farmers could not afford to grow crops based on the needs of just a few high-end restaurants.

In an attempt to increase his access to the foods he wanted, he encouraged other chefs to join him in promoting local agriculture by establishing the Portland chapter of the national Chefs Collaborative. The collaborative works with chefs and the food community to celebrate local foods and foster a more sustainable food supply. It also educates people as to the importance of supporting community farmers. This support keeps local economies strong by increasing jobs and helps conserve fossil fuels by reducing the need for food to make long, refrigerated journeys.

Under Greg’s leadership, the Portland Chefs Collaborative set out to create a platform for connecting farmers and chefs. Through annual Farmer-Chef Connection conferences, the collaborative provides opportunities for farmers, fishermen, and chefs to come together and build relationships while learning about new products and talking about how to work together effectively.

Its website serves as a business-to-business marketing tool, allowing farmers to list available products or search for chefs in need of specific products and vice versa. It boasts listings from over 200 farmers and fishermen and nearly 250 restaurant buyers in the Pacific Northwest, and the list continues to grow.

The annual conferences, which started with 60 attendees, now turn away prospects once registration reaches 300. With a greater demand for local products, the number of local farms working directly with restaurants has increased.

Farmers are eager to talk with Greg about what he hopes to buy in upcoming seasons so they can plan accordingly. As a result, Greg is able to buy 85 percent of his products locally, making exceptions only for essentials that are not produced or grown in Oregon, such as olive oil and coffee. With locally focused restaurants on the rise, Higgins’s customers are also more educated on local values and more accepting of seasonal menus.

Whereas Greg used to get complaints about not providing tomatoes on sandwiches in January, he now has a loyal following that patiently awaits the return of certain menu items each season. By educating others in his industry about the importance of buying locally, Greg was ultimately able to increase the supply of products and his own access to them. Customers are drawn by Higgins’s commitment to local farmers. Annual sales are nearly $4 million, and the ever-changing menu, which Greg refers to as “creativity controlled by climate,” has twice claimed the Restaurant of the Year title from the Oregonian newspaper.

Greg feels he’s succeeded at more than the restaurant business - he’s supporting the local economy and environment and helping make Oregonians more aware of their community.

From Growing Local Value, by Laury Hammel and Gun Denhart, Berrett-Koehler 2007.

For more profiles of Sustainable Agriculture business members of local BALLE networks, click on the links below:

Zingerman's Delicatessen, Ann Arbor, Michigan

Flour Garden Bakery, Nevada City, California

Small Potatoes Urban Delivery, Victoria, British Columbia

Vermont Butter and Cheese Company, Websterville, Vermont

Ashland Food Co-op, Ashland, Oregon

Seven Stars Yogurt, Phoenixville, Pennsylvania

The Farmers Diner, Quechee, Vermont