Where does Alice Waters get the succulent gamebirds served at Chez Panisse?
She was Hoffman Gamebirds’ only restaurant customer from 1985 to 1993! She continues to be a steady customer, but the Hoffmans have expanded their customer base to include other top restaurants in San Francisco, the Napa Valley, Chicago, Miami and Newport Beach, as well as their avid clientele at the Saturday San Francisco Ferry Plaza Farmers’ Market. How the Hoffman’s Got into Business The Hoffmans didn’t start out in the business of growing birds for restaurants or for the consumer market. The name of their company, Hoffman Gamebirds, only gives a slight hint as to their original business. But until you talk with them, the full story doesn’t come together. From 1979, the Hoffman family, Bud, Ruth and their son Joe, raised gamebirds (pheasants and chukar partridges) for the State of California Department of Fish & Game. They sold young male birds to the State to be released for the hunting season. Since it was illegal for hunters to shoot any female birds, the Department of Fish & Gam
