Bon Appetit Management Co. has announced that its purchases from local farmers and artisans reached $55 million in 2006, accounting for 30% of its total food purchasing expenditures for the year. In 2005, the company’s local purchases totalled $30 million. The continued increases in local purchases originate from the company’s Farm to Fork program, which stipulates that a minimum of 20% of purchases in all of its 400 locations come from local farmers or artisan producers, "local" being defined as originating within 150 miles of the café where the food is served. Farm to Fork has been a company policy since 1999, and today, Bon Appetit purchases from over 560 individual farms across the nation.
