Sustainability Edit - Farmstand
Next in our new Sustainability Edit in collaboration with KeepCup is Farmstand. We speak to Kim Jirapure about the ways in which they're promoting sustainability.
Please tell us a little bit about your café
Farmstand believes that we need to change ourselves in order to change the world. We can do this by eating responsibly sourced, locally grown food that fuels our bodies throughout the day with minimal impact on the environment. We are proud to partner ourselves with a number of important people and companies that also share our values, such as GreenCup and KeepCup.
How do you support sustainability in your coffee shop?
Whether you’re after a meal or hot beverage, we offer you the opportunity to support sustainability in the process, with our packaging being made from recycled materials, which are compostable. Our coffee grounds are also upcycled by GreenCup, who are working to build a full circle economy, eliminating waste by reintegrating it into new products and services.
How have customers responded to your sustainability efforts?
Farmstand Covent Garden has cemented itself as a destination cafe, with customers travelling from far and wide to enjoy our offering. This is fuelled by both our commitment to championing plant-based food and our sustainability efforts. We continue to work hard to innovate in this field to ensure we are not just meeting but exceeding our customers values.
What advice do you have for coffee shops trying to implement sustainability initiatives?
It’s great to incentivise customers to bring their own cups as a means to cut down on your waste contribution. This can be done in a number of ways, such as offering a discount on their purchase, collecting loyalty stamps, or offering complimentary baked goods.
In the implementation of any initiative, it’s beneficial to understand where your products come from, and what will likely happen to them at the end of their lifecycle. Any product with a short lifecycle should be avoided, in place of something that can withstand heavy usage over a greater deal of time, or simply something that can serve a multitude of uses.
How do you tackle the use of single-use cups being used?
We discourage single-use cups in the following three ways:
- Offer glass cup options at Covent Garden when dining in
- Offer KeepCup for customers to purchase
- Offer 50p off your coffee when you bring your own cup