New business in Hays offers fresh, ready-to-eat food crates, directly from chef to consumer

By JAMES BELL
Hays Post

Owner Tim Pfannenstiel calls what he serves “vintage western Kansas cuisine,” offering a taste of the past in a very out-of-the-box concept at his new location, Chef’s Crate, 501 Vine.

“The business is based on a concept to provide meals ready to eat for families and individuals that are preservative-free, made locally and put together with the mentality of healthy, local, natural,” Pfannenstiel said.

He calls the food “retro” but he does not mean old recipes — rather he offers meals that are hard to find in a world of food that is over-processed, over-cooked and shipped globally.

Retro, he said, is simply “the way people used to eat.”

“This is incorporating a style and a way of eating, and a lifestyle more than a fad term that describes a time period and a mood,” he said. “What your grandma made in 1972 is what is here. This type of food has a purpose.”

Creating simple, but delicious food starts with using the best products available, Pfannenstiel said.

“I buy the best base ingredients I can get, and by doing that, no matter what I put out it is of the highest quality because what I am buying at the beginning is of the highest quality,” he said.

From those ingredients, he creates meals from scratch, mixing together elements of restaurants, food manufacturing and grocery stores.

“Everything is made here,” Pfannenstiel said.

He grinds meat, makes dressings and does something truly rare using a signature Kansas product —  bakes fresh bread with Kansas grown and milled wheat.

“I’m one of the only places in western Kansas that makes fresh bread every day from wheat that is grown and milled in Kansas,” Pfannenstiel said.

He uses flour from the Stafford County Flour Mills, one of the few independent, locally owned mills left in the U.S., nationally known for their Hudson Cream Flour brand — from a mill that has been in operation since 1914 and powered almost exclusively with renewable wind energy.

“That’s why I have to use their flour or it doesn’t work,” Pfannenstiel said.

“I make meals that are coordinated for nutrition and for people who are too busy to cook,” he said, calling the food “heat and eat.”

Customers purchase a “crate” from the location that includes enough food for two people for over a week at a price of $100.

He has also been creating samplers of four items for $20, giving people an opportunity to try out the service before committing to a full package.

“It’s a learning thing for people,” Pfannenstiel said. “They can see what is available, and what it is about before committing to a one-week deal.”

“People want to eat better and my goal is, when they come back for the second week, they say they feel better,” he said, noting the nitrates and salts that used in most foods consumed in the U.S. are absent from what he offers.

His desire to deliver fresh meals free of those preservatives means, unlike most meal crate services, he does not ship or deliver his products. Food in those crates come from a variety of sources and change hands several times and go across the country two or three times, creating opportunities for the food to become compromised, he said.

“By someone coming to me and purchasing food, we are cutting out about eight to 10 people in the middle that usually either compromise the quality of the food or compromise the price,” Pfannenstiel said. “That’s why I don’t ship, I don’t deliver. I like when people come here and they know exactly what they are getting.”

Even with the focus on using classic food preparation methods, he does not shy away from technology to make the business work — orders at Chef’s Crate come over the location’s Facebook page and can be found here.

Using Facebook for orders dates back to before the location’s opening when Pfannenstiel created meal crates from his farm near Yocemento.

He ran the farm for nearly a decade, creating meals from food grown on the property, before moving into Hays and starting this new outlet.

“It just works out better,” Pfannenstiel said.

Opening the new location also allows him to work full time as a chef, but unlike his previous positions, this operation is entirely his. During his career, he opened 15 food operations, including a period of serving as the executive chef at Fort Hays State University before opening Gella’s Diner and Lb. Brewing Co.

While working with food remains the same in the new venture, without a full restaurant, and the complexity that comes with it, Pfannenstiel gets to connect directly with his customers.

The lack of a restaurant operation also means he can operate from a much smaller space, and the new location is a perfect fit, he said. Using fresh food helps as well — the operation only uses one small freezer, no microwaves and has only one staff member.

“In this situation, you don’t need a ton of help,” Pfannenstiel said, but when needed he has support from former employees, friends and acquaintances.

The building itself, while not a large space, and definitely a bit off the beaten path, fits his mission of becoming a destination business.

“It’s perfect, it’s everything you need,” Pfannenstiel said.

Prior to opening, the building was totally gutted and everything is brand new. Space outside also offers an area to expand and try new directions for the business in the future.

“There are a lot of things I can do here,” he said, and already has ideas of adding a greenhouse or hosting cooking classes in the location. “There’s a lot of possibilities.”

In whatever he is doing, he said he wants to give his customers what they want, not what he thinks they should have.

“Whatever works I do, I don’t do what is cool, or neat or fun. If it works, let’s do it,” Pfannenstiel said. “As a chef, you cannot dictate or tell what somebody should or should like to eat or drink. That’s offensive.”

Instead, he said a chef for research and learn to make what the customer wants to buy.

“Once you do that, things become much simpler,” Pfannenstiel said.

And based on reviews, Chef’s Crate has received so far he must be getting it right.

Chef’s Crate is open Tuesday through Saturday from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. Crate reservations can be made on the business’ Facebook page and can be found by clicking here.

Pfannenstiel also has a professional Facebook page that can be found here.