Restaurants can be a cornerstone in your marketing strategy if you know how to approach them. They are often willing to pay more for fresh local products.
Benefits of restaurants include willingness to pay higher prices for quality ingredients, interest in specialty crops that only you can grow, and low distribution costs.
Challenges include smaller account sizes that require lots of attention and the possibility that greenhouse space may have to be set aside for custom orders. When you have to manage a dozen small restaurants it can be a significant challenge. This is why it is better to have a few, larger accounts rather than many small ones.