The Middleburg Business and Professional Association and the town's Office of Economic Development on August 25 hosted a Restaurant Symposium at the Red Fox Inn to discuss how local restaurants and producers can work together to take advantage of the region's abundant fruits, vegetables, wines and culinary talents.

A panel of speakers talked about understanding the "fresh, local and seasonal" motto and how it has become a larger part of customer preference; developing relationships with local farmers, vintners, and meat producers and expanding customer base; and using different marketing strategies to sustain and expand clientele and promote a "taste of Piedmont."

Panel member Patrick Dinh, executive chef at Tuscarora Mill Restaurant in Leesburg, said his restaurant incorporates local produce, including meats, into its menu whenever possible. Dinh said they have to pay more and charge customers more for local produce, but that the relationships with producers and the customers' knowledge that they are eating food produced in Loudoun County are worth the cost.

Molly Harris of the Edible Garden Restaurant in Richmond, which uses 80%-95% local ingredients year round, encouraged local chefs to develop relationships with local producers, but also expressed the challenges of educating the public about how the restaurant's menu is in constant flux, depending on the availability of certain items.

Rachel Martin of Boxwood Winery said she invites restaurant staff to her appointment-only establishment to educate them about how they make the wine, noting this education makes the staff more inclined to sell Boxwood wines.

From the producer's standpoint, panel member and symposium organizer Sally Bolton of the Vineyard Nursery discussed the benefit of having been employed in the restaurant business, which she said helps her maintain relationships with busy chefs throughout the county and beyond.

During the discussion portion of the evening, Bolton introduced the idea of a joint marketing campaign, in which restaurants and producers join together to promote the area's businesses.

Mike Kane of the Piedmont Environmental Council discussed his organization's "Buy Fresh. Buy Local." marketing campaign, which covers a nine county region and is designed to protect the rural countryside where farming occurs.

However, while showing the campaign's "newspaper flier" promoting different businesses and restaurants in the region, audience members Jay Trier of the Hidden Horse Tavern and Lisa Patterson of Mello Out expressed frustration that the paper does not list any establishment in Middleburg. While Kane maintained that restaurants had been contacted for inclusion in the flier, restaurateurs said they never received inquiries about the campaign's flier. Patterson made clear her concern that the county and PEC often view Middleburg as a separate entity, which it is not.

Panel member Warren Howell of the Loudoun County Office of Economic Development pledged that his office will make more effort to tighten the connection between the county and Middleburg restaurants and other businesses, and Kane said he would personally contact the town's restaurants for inclusion in future issues of the PEC's "Buy Fresh. Buy Local." campaign.

Participants topped the night off by feasting on local fare brought in by producers, restaurants and wineries, including Boxwood and Swedenburg Wineries.

Plans are set for the next meeting, which will focus on "Meeting the Producers." Future sessions hope to continue the dialogue among all parties to share experiences, practices and ideas to help prompt an organized local movement to share with locals and visitors the specialties and special places in Loudoun County.