Garnish: Jessi Waltz

Last year, Jessi Waltz of Garnish put on fine-dining events with menu temptations like Bo Ssäm Korean Pork Shoulder and Butter Poached Lobster Tail with Cucumber Relish. But March 2020 revealed a new reality.  Healthy meals delivered to the house that lasted more than a day were in order.

Similarly, last year was a record year for Nashville Grown, Nashville’s only food hub.  They sourced from more than 25 farms delivering to 47 chefs and restaurants, their business run by the seasons. This year was to be a year of increased farm production with a pilot program to lower prices for chefs with standing orders and buying in bulk. But COVID presented a different plan. Restaurants closed.  Many farmers in their network turned to direct retail sales. CSA membership soared. Suddenly, local family farms were selling direct to customers at retail prices. Good for the farms, but not so much for chefs as they came back online.

In fine-tuning her menu to make it deliverable and affordable, Jessi teamed up with Nashville Grown, to source farm produce at good prices. According to Nashville Grown’s Executive Director, Elizabeth Murphy, “as a personal chef, Jessi gave us a chance to tinker with standing orders and pricing ideas on a small scale. The chefs in our restaurant network have to focus on take-out options, new rules, and surviving. They need our support. We’re working on expanding the supply chain and lowering prices for our network members. That takes planning, so this experiment taught us things we’ll need in 2021.”

What’s next for Garnish?  Expansions on ‘Grub’ and ‘Simply Good’ meal boxes are now available for order on their website. And all social interaction is not lost.  Weekend Brunch packages will give Saturday new hope and their ‘Gather to Graze’ offerings allow you to host without the prep or cleanup.  A ‘Girls Night Out/In’ is also on the way because juicy gossip is often lost on a host stuck in the kitchen. 

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