An innovative Kent company is in the running to be named the country's best farm-to-table restaurant at this year's Good Food Guide Awards. The Goods Shed in Canterbury is one of three establishments in Kent hoping to be honored at the prestigious awards ceremony, having each been recognized for their “unique commitment to their craft and unique approach to hospitality”.
It joins Small Holding in Cranbrook which has been nominated for the same award, while The Sportsman in Seasalter could take the impressive Restaurant of the Year award. A Canterbury landmark for 22 years, The Goods Shed is not just a restaurant, but a bustling farmers market and food hall with a mission to promote local produce and independent businesses.
Director Susanna Sait told KentLive: “We were completely shocked, it's so exciting to be part of it. To be recognized by The Good Food Guide is truly amazing, it's an iconic publication and the publication we all dreamed of when we started.
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“To be nominated for one of their bigger awards is just amazing. We have some really incredible players in front of us and to be honest I can’t see myself winning, but it’s just a lot of fun to be a part of.”
Susanna believes The Goods Shed, housed in an eye-catching converted railway building on Station Road West, has become “a massive part of the Canterbury community”. The food hall is teeming with independent traders, from cheesemongers to butchers, while the restaurant offers daily changing lunch and dinner menus with carefully prepared dishes using the very best and freshest local ingredients, all cooked to order.
The Goods Shed has been operating in Canterbury for 22 years and has become a “massive part of the community”.(Image: Sally Gurteen/The Goods Shed)
The Best Farm-to-Table Restaurant award aims to highlight the most “innovative” companies that have strong relationships with their food suppliers to champion high-quality food made from local ingredients. The Good Food Guide adds: “These nominees are, in our opinion, at the top of their game. They have gone a step further and integrated agriculture into their restaurant operations, with one major benefit: their customers gain a deeper understanding of seasonality and freshness.”
Susanna explained how The Goods Shed wanted to achieve this: “We are interested in creating local food networks where you build communities on both sides of the fence, the producer side and the customer side. I think it just gives the existence a bit more context and a few more layers.
“22 years is a long time, there were a lot of hurdles along the way, a lot of food problems, a lot of transportation problems, packaging problems. We're always trying to promote and develop this local food network where things are grown here, produced here and consumed here. It's about getting as close to the race track as possible.
The Goods Shed runs both a successful restaurant and a lively farmers market(Image: Sally Gurteen/The Goods Shed)
“You have to believe in these things with all your heart to do the work necessary, and that was exhausting. It was a lot of hard work, really fun and rewarding work, but it's still a lot of work, so you have to believe passionately in it to move forward.”
One of the biggest steps The Goods Shed has taken in recent years to achieve this goal is the purchase of its own 100-acre farm, where the company raises its own livestock and grows its own produce, as far as possible uses animals and natural processes to manage the land. To further connect consumers with their food, The Goods Shed hosted several farm dinners last year, where customers helped out on the farm for a day before enjoying a unique al fresco dinner in the middle of the fields.
Susanna wants to better connect the Canterbury community with the food they eat(Image: Sally Gurteen/The Goods Shed)
Similar events are planned for 2024 to further connect the community with the food on their plates, while Susanna hopes to get more staff and traders from The Goods Shed itself involved in the farming process. Susanna added: “I believe that short supply chains are more transparent than a global supply chain. Local produce is not only healthy, but also fresh and more nutritious than stored and transported produce.
“There are so many reasons why local food networks are important. Social, economic, ecological and health reasons. Whether eating the calories or eating the feeling is the main question, and I think it's both.
“If you feel really good about what you eat, I think it will nourish you better. For more information about The Goods Shed, visit their website here.
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