Chef Takes Side Gig as Hydroponic Farmer at Ritz-Carlton, Naples

by Siti Zawani @ 20 Nov 2015
Chef Takes Side Gig as Hydroponic Farmer at Ritz-Carlton, Naples There’s a lot of buzz over “The Grow House” at The Ritz-Carlton, Naples. That is what the iconic beach resort named its hydroponic farm in a renovated shipping container. For the top chef at the five-diamond-rated resort, it’s a dream come true, “All chefs like to get their product as close to the (growing) environment as possible,” said Executive Chef George Fistrovich, adding, “This enables us to come right outside our doorstep, about 50 feet from our restaurants, and harvest. It gets the freshest products to our guests, instantly.”

The Naples Grande Beach Resort did an extensive makeover in 2014 that included adding an herb garden outside its Catch of the Pelican restaurant. At The Ritz-Carlton, Naples, Fistrovich is the grower-in-chief. His compact farm setup came from North Carolina-based Williamson Greenhouses, which calls them CropBoxes. Read the full story here: http://goo.gl/Pvpizs