Buying local - when $1 equals $14 for our community

Watching the Central Coast's own Julie win MasterChef this week, I've been struck by the huge amount of support our local community is giving here।
We've been running a competition in store to guess the winner of the Masterchef competition, and the response has been phenomenal।
Even when there were six finalists to choose from, about 90% of our customers are voting for Julie, because she's local!
I think all this local support is great and helps bring together the local community.
We've been struck by the tremendous support we have always received since we opened in East Gosford three years ago.
This is the same week when the supermarkets started a petrol discount war and declared they were bringing grocery prices down! Supermarkets are the opposite of local - they usually sell not local products and support no local producers. They are rarely able to take action that supports local causes or local events.
I've been a passionate advocate of supporting local business, local suppliers and local producers for a long time now. Clearly as a local Central Coast owned family business - store and cafe - and a producer of our own label of locally made gourmet foods, it's in my interests - but I also believe that it is good for the community.
We are also genuinely grateful for the support we get from our local loyal customers.
We have always envisaged our business as being a champion of local producers, a supporter and buyer of local products, and a passionate supporter of the vibrant local community.
I'm not advocating a radical form of localism where you only use things made within 100km - for example, I love my coffee too much and there's not grown here on the Coast. But there are local businesses supplying coffee and that's the kind of practical support I mean.
As well, in these uncertain times, it feels really nice to support local things! No matter what happen, the people and places that are close and familiar are always going to be there for you.
And, there is some fascinating research starting to to surface which says that supporting your local businesses and producers is not only a good idea for them but it's good for you, your family and your local community.
I came across a study which was headed When $1 equals $14: Reasons to Buy (and Refer) Local. The study which was based on retail and buying patterns demonstrated that locally owned businesses generate 3.5 times the local economic activity as chains.
So, when does $1 equal $14? When you spend it with a locally owned business. That dollar is usually spent 6 to 15 times before it leaves the community.
The research also showed that independent small businesses are also more likely to:

• spend money with other local businesses
• make decisions locally with customers first and foremost in mind
• place importance on community service and promoting goodwill
• have a commitment to a clean safe community

Need more reasons to buy local: here's five more!

1. Support your family - studies show that when you buy from a locally owned business up to three times more of your dollars are re-circulated in the local economy compared to a big national business or a chain. At Taste Gourmet Grocer and Cafe, we buy as much as possible from small, locally owned independent suppliers (like us).
2. Support your community. Local non profit organizations receive 250% more support from locally owned businesses. At Taste Gourmet, we've been supporting local community organisations since we opened: local schools, service clubs, pre-schools, sporting teams and cultural organisations.
3. Create more local jobs. Locally owned businesses spend on average 28% of revenue on labour, compared with 23% for the chains, providing the most jobs to local residents. At Taste, we value our staff, we employ and train local people who are also proud to be part of our local community.
4. Get better service. Locally owned businesses often hire people better understanding of the products they are selling and take more time to get to know customers. At Taste, our staff are committed to giving you the best customer service, they'll get to know you and look after you!
5. Buy what you want, not what they want to sell you. As a small business, we select products based not on a national sales plan, but on the needs of our local customers. At Taste Gourmet, we present our customers with the best value for their money, and the products you want and need. We also make our own local products and stock and promote other local gourmet food producers.

Remember, you hold the key to the economic stimulus!
These days as we get more and more concerned about how we spend our hard earned dollars. Next time you shop, consider the benefits of choosing a locally owned business. And when referring friends and colleagues, refer a reputable local business and keep their dollars local too.
After all, it's you money and your community! Make it count! KEEP IT LOCAL!

Getting in Touch with Your Inner Chef

Hi there, well, we've been talking about it for a while but we have finally made it happen - our new blog will be weekly and will mostly be all about great food and coffee.
There's so much great stuff happening in the food world right now it's hard to know where to start.
But the topic on the lips of all of my customers, family and friends is Master Chef. Everyone has their favorite, and their least favorite, everyone has fancied themselves at cooking one of the contestant's dishes, everyone has a favorite judge and a story to tell.
Master Chef has really grabbed our imagination. Channel 10 used it to replace it's long running Big Brother franchise and the show has really delivered - in rating and in taking it's place in the local food culture. And there has been not too much cringing as some of the country's leading chefs line up to feature them or their kitchens in front of the cameras.
While the show differs in format from the US and UK versions and has adopted a few "reality" show stunts such as peer elimination and bringing back ousted contestants, there is no doubting the impact it is having on all kinds of food lovers.
In our store and cafe, customers are choosing the food from the menu that is similar to that cooked on Master Chef - after Justine cooked lamb shanks for the sailors of HMAS Kanimbla, we served more lamb shanks in a day than we normally do in the week.
When the judges ran their Master Class for the contestants and used Persian Fairy Floss to garnish a dessert, our stocks of Pariya Persian Fairy Floss - all flavours - sold out. Just for the record - we have new supplies in stock - Chocolate, Saffron, Pistachio, Vanilla and Rose. (This a a glorious product, definitely for the grown ups, not for the kids though.)

This fabulous product is made by Sydney based Pariya Foods and is part of a huge range of traditional Middle Eastern confectionery and sweet meats which they made by hand to traditional recipes. The Fairy Floss is a perfect garnish for many desserts and can elevate a simple home cooked dessert to looking and tasting very special. It's not necessarily a cheap product, but it's wow factor makes it a very worthwhile investment for the pantry. .. Anyway, I digress.
Customers have also been demanding really good quality extra virgin olive oil (of which we have a good selection) and a wide variety of spices. I also saw Sydney based reports of utensils such as pasta makers and piping bags selling out of quite large kitchen supply stores.
It led me to finally doing something I had been talking about for a while; we've started a regular bi-monthly publication - called Get in Touch With Your Inner Chef - Taste Gourmet's Food and Recipe Guide. First one focuses on winter and contains some great information on the basic products you need to have in your pantry to get you cooking each night of the week.
We also look at some of the common but misunderstood gourmet food products such as Extra Virgin Olive Oil, Verjuice, Salt Flakes, Vinocotto and Balsamic Vinegars. And we have heaps of recipes suing these products. Our first edition also features many of our Italian products and even shows how to cook your pasta the Italian way. The Guide is free and we will be publishing new editions each two months, the next one will feature Spring recipes and in December we will focus on the festive season with Christmas recipes, tips and information.
So far, for the first edition, we have printed over 800 copies and they are proving very popular.
But there is also a much bigger picture here. Worldwide, since the start of the Global Financial Crisis, there has been a massive increase in people cooking at home, taking cooking classes, buying cooking and kitchen utensils and in buying cook books and subscribing to food magazines. The national supermarket chains have also reported increased sales and have begun publishing recipes for "budget" meals in their weekly specials catalogues.
Foodweek.com.au reports that research by Mintel shows that the recession is definitely driving up food and drink sales and that we are indeed cooking more. Mintel Senior Analyst Bill Patterson says over the past year we have seen people trying to save money on food by either dining out less or cutting supermarket bills or both..more people cook at home more..
The Global Financial Crisis is helping us find a way back to the kitchen, and better still not only are we cooking more, we are interesting in cooking well, in creating high quality semi-restaurant quality meals, in using great quality fresh products and ingredients, and in experimenting with new tastes, flavours, tastes and techniques. It's nice that something good came out of the GFC.
And it helps to partially explain why we are sitting addicted to Master Chef SIX nights a week in prime time.
But is does beg the question - what will we do each evening when it finishes in a couple of weeks time? Maybe our inner chefs will drag us back to kitchen to start practicing what we have been watching..