A Kingsville vegetable grower has a new partnership with Caesars Windsor to supply its restaurants with fresh produce.
Lee & Maria's has supplied events at the casino in the past, but the new partnership is more permanent and will mean more jobs at the business, which employs ten people now.
"Now I need extra staff because of the wholesales to help me get the orders ready, prepare them, get them out on time and get them delivered to the location," says Vice President of Retail and Wholesale Sales Kathy Black. "I'm going to say I need at least one in the market and then one or two drivers."
What Lee & Maria's doesn't supply itself, it can source from other farms in Essex County.
"I use other farmers, but it's all coming from Lee & Maria's," says Black. "Because I grow the majority of the vegetables, a lot of the fruit comes from my local guys, or if there's something specific I don't grow for vegetable, I just source some of our local farmers within Essex County."
The farm on Seacliffe Dr. is the only local grower right now supplying Caesars Windsor. It already supplies numerous households and businesses with weekly baskets across the county.
"Fresh and local is always preferred in our kitchens because the produce maintains its integrity and flavours when you can cut the time between harvest and cooking," says Chef Patrick McClary in a release from Lee & Maria's.