The Project Behind Armenia’s Farm-Fresh Dining

Farm fresh and direct-to-table food is growing in popularity every year, but this new approach to cooking isn’t as popular outside of western Europe and the United States, but one company is trying to push this dynamic in Armenia. 

The restaurant group Yeremyan Projects, based in Yerevan, designs their restaurants to use and serve farm-to-table food and meats. Serving largely as a business developer and logistics team, Yeremyan seeks to bring several well-known Armenian restaurant brands under a single name to help convey this approach to sustainable food growth and delivery.

Currently, Yeremyan Projects consists of multiple restaurants in Yerevan, including Burgery, Casa Nostra, Smoking Chef, Livingston, Tavern Yerevan Riverside, Tavern Yerevan, and Yerevan Shaurma. Their newest restaurant named Renommée opened late last year. All of these restaurants work together with Yeremyan Projects to form a transparency framework where all produce and foodstuffs coming into these restaurants are coming from consistent sources. 

Part of that framework includes using recently opened farms to provide meat and dairy products. This includes a stud cattle breeding farm in Vayots Dzor, pig farms in Tavush, a fodder mill in Ararat, and the Artsakh processing plant in Yerevan that is responsible for supplying milk, dairy, and processed meats. By controlling the source of the food used in their restaurants, Yeremyan can help maintain the high quality reputation they want to cultivate.

^{The Yeremyan Projects stud cattle breeding farm in Vayots Dzor in northern Armenia | Photo Credit: Yeremyan Projects}

Yeremyan invests early in the development of new culinary talent as well. The Academy of Culinary Arts and Hospitality opened in April 2019 with the goal of producing specialists in both local and international cuisines. Partnered with the City of Oxford College in the United Kingdom, the school offers programs in culinary arts for new and professional chefs, patisserie courses, restaurant management classes, and service staff instruction. 

In addition to their business ventures, Yeremyan also formed a project to deliver fresh and high-quality foods to Armenian and Artsakh-based soldiers. The menu was developed with consideration for food standards in other countries and sanctioned by the Ministry of Defense of the Republic of Armenia to ensure soldiers stationed on bases could enjoy high quality food. Further, Yeremyan provides nutritionists who make sure the food served is of the correct content for military conditions.

Yeremyan continues to look for new initiatives in their quest to refine food quality in Armenia. Other projects include the show Hot Kitchen, the webseries Tasty Stories, the documentary The Road of Flavors, and the annual Seasons Park Station popup festival in Yerevan.