Joni Restaurant Chef Jonathan Williams on Sourcing Local and Fighting Food Waste

“Waste not, want not.” For chef Jonathan Williams, that’s more than an old adage. In his kitchen — the sizzling centre of the Park Hyatt’s Joni Restaurant — chefs learn to conserve their cauliflower greens, eggplant skins, and artichoke leaves.

“We have nine different menus at the hotel,” Williams says. “So, if something is at risk of being wasted, we will find a place for it.” Each rind and peel is put to work; culinary remnants become vinegars and miso. Meanwhile, chefs transform meat scraps into decadent smoked sausages, served on a charcuterie board.

“Sustainability starts with ingredient sourcing: Ontario farms, Canadian seafood — knowing where your food is coming from, who is raising it, and how it was caught.”Jonathan Williams

A true farm-to-table operation, Joni Restaurant takes an equally eco-friendly approach to ingredients, sourcing its produce from local farms across southern Ontario. “We have beautiful products in Canada,” Williams explains. “Why not showcase that?” Perched on the corner of Avenue and Bloor, Joni Restaurant displays the fruits of Williams’ philosophy: diners enjoy seasonally-driven dishes paired with Ontario wines.

We dropped by the Park Hyatt’s Joni Restaurant to learn more about Williams’ “zero-waste mindset and hyper-local approach” to cuisine. As he chopped and seasoned, Williams even shared a few of his signature tricks. Watch the video below, then scroll down to read the full interview.

What does sustainability mean in the context of a modern hotel kitchen like Joni?

I think sustainability starts with ingredient sourcing: Ontario farms, Canadian seafood — knowing where your food is coming from, who is raising it, and how it was caught. We spend a lot of time talking to our farmers and suppliers. With seafood, we try to make sure it is MSC-certified or a low-impact species, and that we are doing our part to keep our oceans clean and thriving. We do whole animal butchery as much as we can. We do not always have the type of menu where we can buy a whole cow, but we still try to use the less popular cuts, like tongue, hearts, and trim.

How does sustainability factor into other hotel offerings like room service or high tea?

Aside from sourcing our ingredients carefully, it really comes down to how we build menus for the whole hotel. We use each menu to make sure nothing is being wasted. Duck breast might be on dinner, then the confit leg goes on tea or gets turned into a pasta for lunch, for example. Same with chicken: at dinner, the breast might be done as a roulade, then we use the legs for a confit chicken club at lunch and the wings for in-room dining. We have nine different menus at the hotel, so if something is at risk of being wasted, we will find a place for it.

What pushed you to go all-in on a zero-waste, hyper-local approach?

I will start by saying that zero-waste is something we strive for, but it is extremely hard to be completely zero-waste in a hotel operation this size. Any hotel saying they run a completely zero-waste kitchen, well, I would love to see it and maybe learn a few things. Cooking with a zero-waste mindset and a hyper-local approach is the only thing that makes sense to me. We have beautiful products in Canada, so why not showcase that? I think it is crazy when people pay so much to fly scallops and fish in from Japan, or get a product and throw half of it in the bin. It is a lack of creativity, really. Chefs should be challenging themselves.

What does 100 km sourcing look like day-to-day in the kitchen?

A lot of texting our farmers and suppliers. We are constantly on the phone, talking and texting to see what is ready, how this crop is looking, how that one is coming along. We try to plan menus months in advance and ask the farmers what vegetables will be around, but it is Canada, so exact dates are always a bit of a gamble. Sometimes we just need to make last-minute decisions and change the menu.

How do local products and vendors change (or enhance) the type of cuisine that you offer?

I think better, fresher ingredients ultimately make your food better. Start with really nice ingredients and cook them properly, and it makes menus a lot easier to build. People underestimate how delicious a properly cooked vegetable can be.

“Sustainability” is a buzzword. As a professional chef, when did you see sustainable concepts like “food waste” become a serious focus in the culinary world? Is sustainable cooking a trend, or is it the new baseline for chefs?

It is definitely a buzzword. I think a lot of restaurants that brag about it or use it as a marketing ploy probably are not actually doing it. The chefs I know who really work and live like this almost forget to talk about it, because it is just second nature to them. After I worked with Carl at Richmond Station, I do not think I have ever considered not working with a local-ingredient-first mindset.

What is one of your favourite ways to repurpose kitchen scraps? Could you share any suggestions for readers to transform rinds and peels into high-value ingredients?

Again, I think I forget about some of these things we do at Park Hyatt every day. We use scraps for vinegars, miso, garums, and charcuterie. Sometimes we put things in a hot box to blacken, like black garlic. We are not afraid to use ring cutters and shape things nicely, as long as we know what we are going to do with the scraps. Summer sausage is a great one for meat scraps. We make a beautiful smoked sausage for our charcuterie board. You can throw anything in there: pork, lamb, beef, duck.

“Eat local, eat weird. Go to the places that showcase their farmers, Canadian seafood, and Canadian meats. Stop getting the USDA tenderloins.”Jonathan Williams

What operational challenges come with running a zero-waste kitchen at scale, and how are they addressed?

Honestly, getting 50 cooks on the same page. We have five kitchens on four different floors, and a lot of these cooks have not worked in a place where they save eggplant skins, artichoke leaves, or cauliflower greens. Rewiring their brains takes some time. It also adds work to their plates, you know? They have prep lists to finish and service to get ready for. So, when you tell them, ‘Okay, I want you to save all your scraps and then turn them into something,’ that is adding more to their day. It is much easier to throw it away.

How can diners support and encourage more sustainable practices when eating out (at Joni or elsewhere)?

Eat local, eat weird. Go to the places that showcase their farmers, Canadian seafood, and Canadian meats. Stop getting the USDA tenderloins. Order some bavette or Denver steak. Eat at Joni, or at other restaurants you know are working with this mindset.

Looking ahead, what changes are needed across the industry to make zero-waste kitchens the norm rather than the exception?

Baby steps. I think it starts with things like this: having conversations about it, and chefs getting together and talking about these ideas. Consumers play a part too. If everyone keeps ordering branzino from Greece, restaurants are going to keep buying it.

What do you hope that diners take away from eating at Joni?

I just hope they enjoy it, and maybe leave a little surprised. I hope they see the care and attention we put into our food. The food is very approachable, and we write the menus very simply, but we put a lot of care into sourcing and cooking the ingredients. Undersell and overdeliver. At the end of the day, making guests happy is why we are here.

PHOTOGRAPHY AND VIDEO: NICOLAS MERTENS, COURTESY OF GENUINE SADNESS.

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