Selling to restaurants in Michigan: the rules, pricing, and logistics

Short answer: yes, a Michigan farm can sell whole, uncut produce it grew straight to restaurants, with no food license. The Michigan Department of Agriculture and Rural Development (MDARD) counts the grower as an approved source. Meat, poultry, and eggs are different: they need inspected or licensed processing. Cottage food can't be sold to restaurants at all.

What you can sell to a restaurant, and what you need

Restaurants in Michigan can only buy food from an approved source. MDARD's Buying Local fact sheet and its farmers market FAQ set out what that means for food coming straight from a farm:

The paperwork is simple: the restaurant has to be able to show where the food came from, so every delivery needs an invoice or receipt with your farm's name and address. Inspectors can ask the restaurant for it.

This is general information, not legal advice. When a product falls between the rows above, call MDARD at 800-292-3939 before you sell it.

Pricing: where restaurant prices land

A restaurant is buying ingredients, not shopping at your stall. Expect to price below your farmers-market retail price, and above what a distributor would pay you. What works in practice:

• Price by the case or the pound, in the units the kitchen orders in (a 10 lb case of tomatoes, not a pint).
• Set a price you can hold for the season. Chefs cost out menus weeks ahead. A price that jumps every week loses you a spot on the menu.
• Set a minimum order that makes the delivery worth the drive.
• Charge for extra delivery stops if a restaurant wants deliveries more often than your route allows.
• Price your specialties higher. A chef will pay for varieties they can't get from a distributor: heirloom tomatoes, specialty greens, unusual peppers, and fruit picked ripe.

What chefs actually care about

Chefs will pay for quality, but they rank reliability right next to it. If you short an order on a Friday, they have to change the menu mid-service, and that's what they remember.

• Tell them what's coming. Send an availability list on the same day every week, with quantities you're sure of.
• Warn them early. If hail takes out your lettuce, tell them days ahead, not at delivery.
• Deliver when the kitchen can receive. That's usually mid-morning, before lunch prep, and never during service.
• Pack it the way they'll use it: clean, cold, labeled, and in consistent case sizes.
• Put the harvest date on it. "Picked this morning" is the reason a chef buys from you instead of a truck.

How many restaurants to start with

Start with one to three restaurants close to each other or on a route you already drive. A few accounts that order every week are worth more than ten that order once. Once your deliveries run smoothly, add accounts along the same route.

Finding them: look for restaurants that already name farms on their menus, and visit mid-afternoon, between lunch and dinner service, when the chef has time to talk. Bring a sample and your availability list.

Payment terms

Distributors and some restaurants run on invoice terms, paying 15 to 30 days after delivery. For a small farm, chasing unpaid invoices is unpaid work. Decide your terms before the first order, and put them in writing: payment on delivery, weekly invoicing, or payment when the order is placed.

Food safety

Michigan's approved-source rule doesn't require a GAP audit for a restaurant to buy whole produce from you. Some restaurant groups ask for one anyway, and a food safety plan helps you answer the question with confidence.

The federal Produce Safety Rule is separate. It applies based on your farm's produce sales. Farms averaging $25,000 or less a year in produce sales are exempt. Sales to restaurants in Michigan, or within 275 miles of your farm, count as sales to qualified end-users. That can help a small farm qualify for the rule's modified requirements. Michigan's MAEAP program offers free on-farm verification if a buyer wants to see a food safety program.

How Chivle handles this

Chivle is built to take most of this paperwork off your hands:

• Restaurant accounts. Restaurants sign up as a business on Chivle, and we block them from buying cottage food listings, so they can't order something Michigan law doesn't allow.
• The invoice is automatic. Every order confirmation names your farm as the seller, with your farm's address.
• Paid at checkout. The restaurant pays when it orders, and the money goes to your bank through Stripe. There are no invoices to chase.
• Standing orders. Restaurants can set up weekly, every-two-weeks, or monthly orders, so your regular accounts don't have to reorder every time.
• Harvest dates travel with the listing. The chef sees when it was picked before ordering.
• Sales tax. Chivle collects sales tax as the marketplace facilitator. Restaurants buying for resale can submit their exemption certificate once, instead of handing one to every farm.

Meat, poultry, egg, and dairy listings go through a compliance review before they go live, so buyers only see products that are allowed to be sold.

The first 50 Michigan farms join as Founding Growers, with zero platform fees on their first $50,000 in sales, for up to a year. See how selling on Chivle works, or read more about selling direct in Michigan.