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Following ambitious objectives set by the 'Grenelle Agreement on Environment', local stakeholders have organised the shortening and greening of food chains that supply public catering. However, they have often kept only one side of the objectives, either local or ecological, creating confusion but allowing a wider space to take position. Socially accepted and politically booming, local food supply chains have stimulated much talking and writing but have not always been turned into reality. This paper deals with a case study in western France, around Le Mans, where several initiatives were taken to supply public catering with local high quality products in the 2000s. It highlights actors’ interactions : and the balance of power between urban and rural sectors but also between forms of agriculture whose qualities and locations vary greatly. We focus especially on one of these initiatives : an ambitious project of local organic vegetable supply, in the way that this project sheds light on the positions of other stakeholders within the same territory. First, the growing institutional and scientific interests in local supply chains are presented. Second, the Sarthe case study analysis shows how a fully relevant project gave birth only to scattered and pale copies of what was intended. This leads to a discussion about the difficulties of achieving full dimension proximity.