Case Studies Region: Northeast

Aaron Ott is part of the tradition of family farming. His father raised pigs and cattle, and Ott and his family live on the 160-year-old farmstead he bought from his grandmother and then restored and refurbished. Ott raises some beef cattle and has two swine nursery farms—raising 9,600 pigs weighing 13-55 pounds at each one. […]

When coffee sits out too long at a buffet, it’s either cold from being in an uninsulated pot or burnt from being on constant heat for hours. It’s an issue many hotels faced for years, so in 1985, Marriot Hotels decided to do something about I, turning to Bon Chef for a solution. Sal Torre, […]

For Ray Roch Jr., the third-generation owner of Roch’s Fresh Foods, waking up well before dawn is a family tradition. Now based in West Greenwich, Rhode Island, Roch’s Fresh Foods was founded in the early 1930s by Joseph Roch, Ray’s grandfather, who rose early each day to open his corner grocery market in the Pawtuxet […]

It sounds like one of those periodic get-togethers of NFL bosses. Each has a Type A personality and is committed to his team’s success but still must compromise for a greater cause, such as the league’s fiscal health. For the 30 seafood companies that comprise the National Fisheries Institute’s Crab Council also are a competitive […]

What doesn’t beat you only makes you stronger. Sure, it’s a cliche but at least in Vistar’s case, Kelly Saad says it applies. “We’re an even stronger organization now than we were before COVID-19,” she tells Terra Firma in September. “We’ve learned a lot of lessons, including how to do more with less.” As president […]

Michael Lessing may not be able to share every meal with his family, but he has had the opportunity to work with some of them for the past four decades. He’s in the fifth generation of the family that’s been running Lessing’s Hospitality Group for well over a century. The New York-based food service management […]

It began as a summer job for Benjy Adler. With some help from his brother, Jonny, he cobbled together a cart from old floorboards gleaned from their parents and mounted it on a sailboat trailer. The Skinny Pancake sold its first crepe at the Church Street Marketplace in Burlington, Vermont, on June 4, 2003. A […]

When Jean Swoope became the president and owner of The Coffee Tree Roasters, she had a few ideas for change. Her late husband, who started the business with his father in 1993, had been consistent in how the Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, coffee company had operated. Without disrespecting his legacy, Swoope added her own touch. “He did […]

In 2020, when most people were staying indoors because of COVID-19, Eli Cayer was going deep into the Maine woods. He wasn’t trekking out there to avoid crowds, though. He was looking for ingredients. As the founder and president of Urban Farm Fermentory, he forages for fruits, herbs, plants, fungi, roots and more to create […]

When Gaetano “Tom” Bazzano bought The Hole in One Bakery in Eastham, Massachusetts, in 1989, it allowed him to express his love of food and community on Cape Cod. In 1992, Bazzano and his family bought a shop in Orleans that became a restaurant serving breakfast and lunch. Then, in 2001, they acquired Fairway Restaurant […]