As a child he helped his parents at the market, today he delivers vegetables to Eska and La Degustation
Ondra, what does your typical working day look like?
My alarm goes off at 3 a.m. and I turn on my phone to read the messages from the chefs who sent orders late at night after their shift. Olda Sahajdák from La Degustation sometimes texts me at two in the morning. I make a list of what each restaurant needs and head to the growers. What I don't pick up in the field, I buy from farmers who have small warehouses. I'm looking for vegetables for the restaurants, but also for my stand.
Around nine o'clock I am at the Prague market, I unload the goods for sale and start preparing the boxes for the cooks. Olda arrives at ten o'clock, while we load Eska, for example, around twelve. They used to have a buyer, but then the chef and the general manager had to take over. It was too time-consuming for them, so we arranged for a delivery. I stay at the market until 5pm, then I check the vegetables on the stall and order the produce from the growers.
How many are currently on your list?
I resell vegetables from five to ten growers from around Tišice, which is my home village near Mělník. I know most of the farmers there personally and have been working with some of them for more than ten years. But many of them are getting older and have stopped growing, so I look for contacts a few kilometres away, for example in Nedomice or Ovčary.
My business is based on mutual trust between me and the growers, who are grateful for the steady sales. This way they can concentrate on their work in the field without having to deal with yard sales or the logistics of delivering vegetables to restaurants and markets. I, in turn, have some influence on what they grow for me. Farmers generally have an idea of what the demand will be in the catering industry and can adjust their supply accordingly.
How much do farmers look at the demands from restaurants?
It's more complicated than it seems. Growers have to be sure of sales and cannot just follow the wishes of chefs. I remember at one point salad beetroot was a hit and farmers couldn't meet the demand from restaurants, whereas the following year they had to plough up the surplus. At La Degustation, they once asked for little gem lettuces and agreed to process the whole crop, but the planting usually ripens all at once - and what would they do with a thousand lettuces?
The chefs love to experiment, and how many times will they ask for hard lettuce hearts or broccoli stems. But the peasants don't want to, and can't be bothered. It is similar with old varieties and less popular vegetables. Jerusalem artichokes and black root, for example, have made a comeback in gastronomy, and although farmers are tempted, they are afraid to take risks. Restaurants take only part of the harvest, and the rest is hard to sell, because customers prefer what they know. In short, farmers must also think economically.
What can make it easier for quality vegetables to reach restaurants?
A few years ago I would have answered that chefs needed to be educated about seasonality, but today they are quite knowledgeable and know when which vegetables ripen. Still, it would be good if they went to the market now and then. If you want to replicate the season on the menu, you have to communicate with the growers - nature doesn't promise an exact date, the harvest depends mostly on the weather and that's hard to predict. In Holešovice, you can find out what's growing, and you'll also know the difference between fresh vegetables from the field and raw material that sits on supermarket shelves for days.
I openly admit that even at my stand, imported raw materials appear out of season, but I always contact the importer directly and buy the goods as soon as they arrive in the Czech Republic. I avoid vegetables from wholesalers who trade with pallets, store the produce cold and then sell it off from the oldest piece. While air conditioning will extend shelf life, it also dries out and devalues the product. I do not like this approach. I guarantee my customers maximum freshness.
Do the chefs appreciate your efforts?
I hope they do. They just sometimes don't understand that they should order vegetables at least two days in advance - I can't go to a grower on a Tuesday night and ask for ten kilos of rhubarb for Wednesday morning. On the other hand, I realize that running a restaurant is organic and it's harder for chefs to plan, especially when they're adjusting the menu almost every day. Fortunately, I can guess what vegetables businesses might want, and I always have a little extra on the stand to possibly replenish them from my own.
Why are there signs saying "grower"?
I come from a family of growers and inherited fields that I can officially grow on. I even studied at the CFA and completed my farming apprenticeship with my grandmother. But all the time I was drawn to the market, where I used to go with my parents as a child. Back then, they sold outside, in the parking lot, and we paid ten crowns a day for rent. At four in the morning we waited outside the gate to take the first table on the corner, the best spot for sales. A lot has changed since then.
What exactly do you have in mind?
You used to see more growers than sellers at the market. Farmers are dwindling because they don't have successors, and most importantly - not many people can manage to toil in the field and tour the market. I've experienced myself that you can't do both things 100%, so sooner or later you have to choose.
I remember the days when we were not yet competing with supermarkets or foreign products. We used to bring only our own vegetables to the markets and by noon we were sold out. People appreciated seasonal vegetables that they could only enjoy for a short time. Only later did they get used to the year-round availability of raw ingredients in the shops - and they lost track of when Czech fruit and vegetables were harvested.
Is the general awareness of seasonality improving?
Certainly yes. But I still serve a lot of people who would not be surprised if I offered fresh dill in winter and claimed it was Czech. At the same time, it seems to me that the supermarket boom is subsiding slightly and we are rediscovering the benefits of local vegetables. The catch is that today's customer expects as wide a range as possible, and since one farmer is logically unable to grow forty different vegetables, growers and sellers exchange goods with each other.
This has created a kind of barter trade at the market and farmers' markets, and it has its advantages. Farmers specialise in a few crops and achieve excellent quality. I display the best vegetables from the Mělník region at my stand, and it doesn't matter to me how many farmers have grown them - the right seller cares above all about the origin and quality of the ingredients.
Can anyone be a vegetable seller?
Why not? I'm just pointing out that one must enjoy this profession. For me personally, trading is more than just a source of income. Every day, I enjoy doing something meaningful and helping chefs and farmers find common ground. I have become a mediator who connects different worlds, but also the growers themselves. They then share experiences or help each other with marketing. In any industry, it is important to create a community, and to pull together.
