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FRANKFORT, Ky. — Kentucky restaurants that serve Kentucky Proud foods may qualify for matching funds to promote their locally produced items through the Kentucky Department of Agriculture’s Restaurant Rewards program.
“This program gives restaurants an added incentive to buy food products produced right here in Kentucky,” Agriculture Commissioner Richie Farmer said. “I am confident that diners who try Kentucky Proud foods will discover that nothing else is close and will demand that their favorite restaurants buy more locally produced foods, which will help our producers increase their income.”
The KDA has awarded a $150,000 grant to Partners for Family Farms to administer and promote the program and help restaurants market their Kentucky Proud foods. The grant runs through June 2006. It recently won legislative approval.
Participating restaurants can receive up to 20 percent or $1,000 reimbursement for their spending on Kentucky Proud products. The reimbursement must be spent to promote and advertise their use of Kentucky Proud products. The program also offers up to 50 percent matching funds to restaurants for high-profile events or extraordinary special promotions supporting Kentucky Proud and Kentucky farmers.
The grant provides funding for publication of a Farm Direct Food Product Directory and an up-to-date list of Restaurant Rewards participants on the Kentucky Proud Web site, www.kyproud.com. The directory and the list will help connect producers selling Kentucky Proud products with restaurants seeking such products for their customers.
For more information on the Restaurant Rewards program, go to www.kyproud.com and click on Restaurants, or contact Sue Weant, executive director of Partners for Family Farms, by phone at (859) 233-3056 or by e-mail at msdweant@aol.com; or Roger Snell of the Kentucky Department of Agriculture by phone at (502) 564-4983 or by e-mail at roger.snell@ky.gov.
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