How Graze Gourmet To-Go became the unexpected player for University of Iowa athletics
Peter Harman spent decades working as a chef in resort hotels dishing out culinary delights to an array of A-listers, including the likes of Bill Murray, Frank Sinatra, and Diana Ross.
Yet amidst the glittering names and glamorous events, Harman's true passion lies in fueling the University of Iowa athletics teams.
Harman opened Graze Gourmet To-Go in Iowa City 17 years ago. For the past 10 years, the business has provided pre-game meals to Hawkeye athletes.
What started as regular end-of-night bookkeeping spiraled into a partnership between the restaurant and the men's basketball team.
Harman noticed head coach Fran McCaffery often came into the restaurant and ordered chicken lips. Eventually, Harman sparked up a conversation on one of McCaffery's visits, beginning a long friendship that turned into a partnership.
A unique opportunity opens a door
As Graze's head chef, Harman catered adolescent and young adult (AYA) fundraisers and Coaches vs. Cancer events while McCaffery's son, Patrick, battled cancer. Harman often donated food to the Iowa City Free Lunch Program (FLP).
Graze was initially hired to cater a one-time training table for the men's basketball team. However, his service impressed the team enough to hire Graze as their exclusive caterer for lunch and dinner before home games. The company was eventually approached to cater the women's basketball, baseball, volleyball, and football teams, generating his own small food monopoly.
Harman believes providing student-athletes with quality, nutritious food is the wave of the future. He feels as if he hit the market at the most opportune time.
"I think the difference is that, to me, nutrition is the new arms race in college sports," Harman said. "All teams have good facilities, good uniforms, good shoes, good helmets, good shoulder pads, and, of course, good coaches. The thing that nobody's talking about is nutrition, and some teams get it right, and other teams don't."
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Preparing for a deep tournament run
Harman and Graze's collaborative kitchen staff began preparing the menu on Saturday ahead of the Hawkeye women's second-round NCAA tournament game.
Caitlin Clark and company enjoyed a hearty meal of chicken parmesan, meatballs, spaghetti with marinara sauce, fresh fruit, and pancakes. It was a menu curated by the team, and Harman was happy to provide it.
"I'm the guy who doesn't feed them," Harman said. "I get to feed them."
Harman has developed close relationships with many of the athletes who come through the University of Iowa athletics program. He hopes to humanize them by providing them with a meal and sometimes offering part-time jobs.
Graze's success has even motivated professional athletes to come calling. Former Iowa Hawkeye tight end George Kittle, who stars for the San Francisco 49ers in the NFL, had Harman cater his wedding.
The personal connections fuel Harman's fire. In 2014, he was inspired by former UConn point guard Shabazz Napier, who admitted that he often dealt with hunger as a student-athlete. Though the country's most high-profile athletes often receive full-ride scholarships to their university of choice, they can sometimes have difficulty finding the necessary means to eat.
"No matter what happens, everyone has to eat," Harman said.
A restaurant with an eye on simplicity and variety
Harman aims to reinvent the wheel of nutrition for athletes and the typical restaurant model. While Graze Gourmet To-Go has been open for 17 years, after the pandemic, Graze left its original location in the Pedmall, where Nest is currently located, and moved down the street on Dubuque Street, next door to Cadence Academy Preschool.
"Food, hospitality and togetherness, and community are the things that ground us as human beings," Harman said of Graze's mission.
Despite being a fixture in the Iowa City community for years, Harman equates Graze's business model to a start-up. Harman also owns Martini's Grille, a luxury steakhouse in Burlington.
Graze takes a different approach than many similar restaurants. While they offer dine-in seating, Graze is best enjoyed on the go, as hinted at in the restaurant's name.
"I believe people want to feed their family something really good at home," Harman said. "But people don't want to cook, or they don't have time to cook."
Graze fills the gaps by creating a menu of classic takeout items, with a surprising array of options. Pizza, chicken lips, tacos, Mexican fried rice, and dim sum green beans are a few of the standouts.
"The menu is a conglomerate of things; it's like a melting pot," said Alex Pradarelli, publicist at Graze Gourmet To-Go. "It is global flavors brought to your table, and at the center of Graze is sharing food."
The cultural fusion is intentional.
In the open kitchen, guests can observe the staff working hard behind the scenes, whether on the hotline where the tacos are being made or by the pizza oven. Harman said the kitchen is collaborative, noting that the staff comes from all over the world. They each have a hand in every dish.
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A dedicated passion for unique, delicious meals
Harman and Graze take pride in the thought and effort that goes into making quality food.
A top priority is ensuring the food travels well from Graze to the dinner table at home. Graze also emphasizes the need for quality ingredients, including locally sourced products when available.
The taco recipe took months to develop.
The base is a made-in-house corn tortilla topped with cheese and a protein option. The corn tortilla is then placed in a flour tortilla, which makes it more stable and easier to eat. The taco is topped with salsa roja, verde, avocado, and pico de gallo.
The process is meticulous and expertly crafted, a point of emphasis among Harman and his crew.
"I don't want to just make salsa verde; I want to make awesome salsa verde. I don't want to just make salsa rojo; I want to make great salsa rojo," Harman said. So, how do you make a great taco? You start with great, fresh ingredients."
Each menu item is treated with the same respect and care as the next. The pizza, for example, is made with a sourdough starter made in-house and tended to every day, ditching the commercial yeast that most traditional restaurants use.
"I do that because it's the best way to do that," Harman said. "Everything we do here, we consider what is the best way to do it. Not what is the fastest, not what's the cheapest, not what's the easiest. What is the best way to do it, and we do exactly that."
A new location and style
The popularity of carryout and delivery was one of the most noticeable side effects of the COVID pandemic. Harman took notice and moved Graze Gourmet To-Go from its spot in the Pedmall to 345 S. Dubuque Street.
The former Pedmall location had a full-service bar and a more expansive menu, but Harman eliminated overhead and adjusted based on consumer habits.
"COVID made everything go faster, and we had to learn how to make this work better since more people are ordering food to-go," Harman said. "It looks like somebody's having a midlife crisis. But on the other hand, you step back, and you look at it say, 'well, maybe this can work.'"
While guests can still dine at Graze Gourmet To-Go for lunch or dinner at the quick-serve bar, Harman's mission is to nourish the roots of what food is and what it means to enjoy a meal with good company.
"Food is my love language," said Harman. "Graze embodies what hospitality is and can be. It's unconditional love and it is transcendent."
Graze Gourmet To-Go is open Tuesday through Saturday from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m.
Jessica Rish is an entertainment, dining and business reporter for the Iowa City Press-Citizen. She can be reached at JRish@press-citizen.com or on X, formerly known as Twitter, @rishjessica_
This article originally appeared on Iowa City Press-Citizen: How Graze Gourmet To-Go meals became a staple for UI athletes
