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Waterbury Couple Finds Recipe for Success

Waterbury Center, Vermont - September 8, 2009

Chef Michael Kloeti is prepping for dinner and for food to leave this kitchen it has to meet a high standard.

"I always go by the rule-- would I serve this to my mother? That's it. If it would be perfect for my mother-- boom! I serve it. Otherwise it doesn't go out," he explained.

Michael and his wife Laura moved from fast-paced restaurant jobs in New York City to Vermont 7 years ago to raise a family. They started Michael's on the Hill in Waterbury Center with the goal of keeping it local and organic.

"My philosophy is you make the money in Vermont-- keep the money in Vermont," Chef Michael Kloeti explained.

Their work is getting national recognition. Through Sante Magazine they were voted by other chefs across the country as an excellent sustainable restaurant.

"I don't want to get in the way of the farmer and the guest-- and that's what it is; they raise it, I just do a little something to it and then I serve it and with that I finish the cycle," the chef explained. "Boom there is the most beautiful trout you have ever seen. And I cut it, it comes in today and it goes on the plate tonight."

They now work with 40 farms. For Chef Michael it goes back to how he was raised in a small village in Switzerland. As a kid his parents would send him to buy bread, vegetables and eggs from neighbors. He'd get a penny for every egg that made it home from the bumpy bike ride.

"It makes sense. I didn't do it because it's hip-- what's hip. This is not new. This is going back in time. It's not going forward, it's going back," Chef Michael said.

From roasted corn soup to grass-fed beef tenderloin, the Kloetis estimate about 90 percent of the items on their menu come from local sources. There are still just a few ingredients they can't find around here.

"Because Michael is from Switzerland we have a lot of European influence in our food," Laura Kloeti explained. "We love truffles and lemons and lots of imported items but like I said we are careful with it and try our best to respect the process."

"Again the phylo dough is not local but everything in it is. It's always a finesse and if someone starts making phylo dough in Vermont let me know," Michael Kloeti said.

Because of the economy business is off about 4 percent. But the Kloetis have expanded with a new partnership. They provide breakfast and lunch items at Green Mountain Coffee Roasters visitor center.

"Tomatoes, the feta and the garlic-- all local-- and the flour is King Arthur flour," Michael Kloeti said.

It's allowed them to hire four more employees.

"We're on a mission more then anything else," Laura Kloeti said. "You could make more money if you are serving less expensive items and all that sort of thing-- we feel it's important to do this."

A business making it work by staying local.

Kristin Carlson - WCAX News