On November 8, 2018, the Latvian Association of Rural Tourism "Lauku ceļotājs" gathered about 130 rural tourism entrepreneurs for the annual closing seminar - a contact exchange "Local food from producer to caterer", which took place at "Kalnmuiža Castle", in Kandava region.
>>> PHOTO gallery
>>> Event program
In the first part of the event, A. Ziemele introduced the attendees to the association's current affairs: the results of the 2018 entrepreneur survey; legislative news; initiatives for fair business competition in the regions, etc.
The audience was then addressed by two well-known chefs in Latvia, Raimonds Zommers and Māris Astičs from the restaurants “Entersol” and “Ferma”. Both chefs highlighted a few things that every producer should take into account and shared their experience:
• Chefs are willing to collaborate with producers if they produce a unique product that is rare, thus creating a unique menu in their restaurant.
• In order to ensure salaries for employees, pay taxes and make a profit, and ensure that the price per portion is something that the buyer can afford, it is often impossible to choose local produce, which is no different from Spanish or Polish.
• Producers must provide restaurants with a regular supply and in accordance with the demand of the specific restaurant – with consistent quality, in a certain weight and packaging.
• The MAIN THING: to offer your products to the restaurant. Restaurants are often unaware of many producers and their offerings. Restaurants work with bases, so they do not look for farms themselves, but are very happy to consider all offers for cooperation.
At the end of the first part, Diāna Dzindule, the owner of the virtual market svaigi.lv, talked about her experience in distributing local food products and collaborating with producers.
| Presentations | |
|---|---|
| Rural Traveler news: statistics, members, projects, legislation (PDF, 4.38 MB) | Asnāte Ziemele, President of the Latvian Association of Travel Agents "Lauku ceļotājs" |
| Information on the draft general agreement for the hospitality industry (PDF, 131 KB) | Zane Vaivode, member of the board of the Latvian Association of Rural Travelers, owner of the hotel "Roja" |
| Information from svaigi.lv | Diāna Dzindule, owner of the virtual market svaigi.lv |
The first part of the seminar was organized by the project "B2B distribution model to support local food producers in rural areas of the Baltic Sea Region" from the Interreg Baltic Sea Region European Regional Development Fund.
The second part of the event included a networking event, where entrepreneurs presented their companies and products. It was possible to get acquainted with the products and taste them.
>>> Catalog: Participants of the contact exchange “Local food from producer to caterer” (PDF, 994 KB)
The second part of the event was organized by the project "Livonian Culinary Road", implemented within the framework of the "Interreg Estonia-Latvia" program from the European Regional Development Fund.
