MAD Greens Inspired Eats, a Denver-based restaurant group, will make the switch from a national cheese purveyor to Colorado-based Haystack Mountain Goat Dairy, producer of premium, handcrafted, raw and pasteurized cheeses, made in a variety of styles.
MAD Greens, known for its salads, soups, and sandwiches featuring high-quality ingredients served fresh in interesting combinations, will serve Haystack Mountain’s Chevre exclusively in its 11 locations along Colorado’s Front Range.
The move represents another step in the brand’s commitment to use local companies and locally sourced ingredients on its menu.
“By making the switch from a California producer to Haystack Mountain, we sustain a small, local creamery and lower our carbon footprint significantly,” says MAD Greens founder and CEO Marley Hodgson. “Most importantly, Haystack Chevre is of the highest quality and tastes great. We’re pleased to support such an excellent producer who’s right in our backyard.”
Hodgson anticipates purchasing at least 10,000–12,000 pounds of goat cheese annually from Haystack Mountain.
Haystack Mountain’s Chevre will be featured in MAD Greens’ best-selling Crazy Ivan salad, its Marilyn Monroe panini, and the chain’s locals-only Alferd Packer salad, served up each summer and featuring all locally grown ingredients such as Palisade peaches, Olathe corn, and local green beans and lettuce.
“At a time when so many casual foodservice operations are focused more on the bottom line than ingredient quality, it’s a joy for us to work with a company like MAD Greens,” says John Scaggs, Haystack’s director of sales and marketing. “We’ve had a culinary crush on them since they opened their first location and are looking forward to growing together.”
MAD Greens began offering locally created menu items long before the trend. When the brand opened its first location in Centennial, Colorado, in 2005, it featured a few ingredients from local purveyors and farms.
Today, the company sources its fresh produce and proteins from local farms whenever possible during growing season, supporting local farms throughout Colorado.
Its steak is sourced almost entirely from northeastern Colorado, and MAD Greens uses locally owned companies to provide other menu items, such as Udi’s Artisan Bakery in Denver and Olomomo Nut Company out of Boulder.
