PIERRE When Sioux Falls restaurateur Tim Meagher purchases local food, he doesnt do it because its trendy. For him, its about securing a future for his business and the community.
If somebody else has control of our food system if you were a bank, you would call that a threat or a risk, he said. Well, I look at it the same way for our community. If Pandemic Two hits, as an example, how strong is the infrastructure around our food system to be able to have the trampoline effect where we can absorb and bounce with it? Or do we just get crushed because somebody else has control over what they’re going to give to us, how they’re going to get it to us, and what they’re going to charge us?
Meagher is the chief operating officer of Vanguard Hospitality and manages its properties: Grille 26, Minervas in downtown Sioux Falls, and Morries Steakhouse. In 2017 he began trying to form relationships with nearby food producers, largely because he believes locally grown food tastes better.
There’s a noticeable difference. If you have a producer that is quality focused and evaluates their entire process, they turn out a high-quality product, he said. The contrast to that between what I get that’s grown in other areas as far as California, Mexico, or even further, the flavor profiles and what those ingredients bring to a dish has more depth to it.
When the COVID-19 pandemic hit in 2020, Meagher had another reason to rely on local producers. Prices for Meaghers ingredients were fluctuating wildly within short time frames. And I’m like, you know what? Let’s just see what it looks like when we buy everything we can from a local producer, he said.
Meagher soon had delivery trucks showing up every day with local meat and vegetables. He found that working with local producers kept his costs more predictable.
While the initial price of local ingredients can be higher, Meagher said the arrangement led to lower food costs. Next year, we ended up saving like 4% on food costs because we could manage other things, which I didn’t even figure into my time. Its what happens when you can focus on other parts of your business, he said.
Sustainable production
Supply costs arent Meaghers only concern. Hes also concerned about improving the local landscape.
We have one farm that does pasture-raised, rotationally grazed Berkshire pork. I bring my cooks out there, and so they’re learning about protecting the environment, he said. At the same time, they’re learning about hog behaviors and seeing them face-to-face.
Meagher is working to understand his businesss relationship with local producers and land management practices. I took a grasslands class this summer from the [South Dakota] Grasslands Coalition. It was around rotational grazing and digging up soil and all that stuff. And one of the USDA guys was like, What are you doing here? he said. Because if I can make a decision on my purchase and have it be with stewards of the environment first, I’m going to make that purchase based on that. But I also have to be knowledgeable of what I’m doing. So, I take it very seriously to not mislead people. So that’s why I take these classes.
Meagher said that his business has been working to showcase the producers who supply his ingredients through QR code access. What we’re trying to do is support those individuals who are taking that leap forward, who are taking responsibility for, Hey, I have to leave this land better than when I got it, he said. So, we’re actively working to share what it is we’ve learned and connect to other restaurants, retail, anybody to build basically a dome over our communities or South Dakota so that if we have hard times come again, our basic needs are on the cusp of being safe.
South Dakota Fresh Connect
To help consumers access more locally grown food, the South Dakota Soil Health Coalition and its partners have recently launched the South Dakota Fresh Connect website (www.sdfreshconnect.com). Its a free, map-based website that lets users search for the food and goods nearest to them and lets producers list their products available for purchase.
Karla Sawvell, the Farm to School coordinator for Huron School District, believes the website will be useful to other schools that would like to start their own local food program.
When I first began this, I wanted to just know, OK, I’m in this county. Who’s close to me? Who’s 50 miles away? Who’s 75 miles away? Who’s close? What do they grow? How could I use that? What’s their contact information? she said. And also, for producers, Who else would want to buy these? All these tomatoes I’ve got left over. I should just go on this website and see who’s interested. I think schools across South Dakota are going to become more and more interested in enlarging this as the years go on.
Soil health conference
To learn more about Tim Meaghers mission to create a sustainable local food supply system in South Dakota, sign up for the 2025 Soil Health Conference on Jan. 15-16 in Watertown. Meagher will join many other speakers at the conference to offer a wide variety of regenerative agriculture information that will be relevant to everyone from backyard gardeners and small scale/urban ag producers to large scale farmers and ranchers. Learn more about the conference and register here.
To learn more about soil health, regenerative agriculture, and the work that SDSHC performs with partners like the U.S. Department of Agriculture Natural Resources Conservation Service and many others, visit www.sdsoilhealthcoalition.org.
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