According to Patricia Cobe, restaurants and the like are starting to buy up undesirable looking produce and use them in their dishes to dampen costs and raise income. By marketing these through familiar and high-class edibles as well as humoring the sensibilities of the environmentally-saavy with talk of sustainability, the average consumer who would otherwise want nothing to do with ugly vegetables will be in for a treat when they bite into these well-loved dishes.

Key Takeaways:

• To keep food costs in check, operators are beginning to source imperfect produce
• Chefs are cubing, chopping and mincing misshapen and bruised beets, carrots, zucchini and other plants, and presenting them much like a beef or lamb tartare
• Chefs are smoking, barbecuing, pickling and roasting ugly or bruised vegetables and scraps, then pureeing or slicing them to create on-trend menu items

“Creative menuing and marketing are the keys.”

http://www.foodservicedirector.com/menu-development/menu-strategies/articles/5-ways-market-rejected-produce-menu#page=0