Sustainability
Worldwide, more than 30% of all food produced ends up in the trash.
Food waste is generated most in households, with catering services coming in second. Food waste in the Finnish restaurant sector is 75-85 million kilos per year. Most of it consists of food leftovers from takeaway food lines and overcooked food. Depending on the type of restaurant, around 4-8% of food is usually wasted by diners. Finland is committed to the UN Sustainable Development Goals, which include halving food waste by 2030.
We have taken up this challenge!
At Sushibar + Wine, the environment, ecology, ethics and sustainability are at the heart of everything we do. We want to play our part in reducing our environmental footprint and help our customers choose better environmental options. We have therefore made environmental issues an integral part of our corporate culture. Our green values are reflected in our everyday activities and we are constantly striving to become more environmentally positive.
Responsible fish choices
Our main raw material is selected from fish and seafood labelled green in the WWF Fish Guide. We have created our own fish guide to help our customers make greener choices. You can find our fish guide here
We work together with WWF Finland. Together with WWF, we have designed a New Nordic range, the sales of which we will donate a share to WWF’s work to protect the Baltic Sea. The New Nordic range includes domestic whitefish and rainbow trout as well as Baltic herring. We want to honour the Baltic Sea and domesticity with this assortment.
First Nordic carbon-neutral sushi restaurant
Tackling climate change is one of the key challenges of our time and restaurants have an important role to play in validating supply chains and tackling food waste, among other things. We want to take our share of the responsibility and be part of the restaurant industry by achieving carbon neutrality as the first sushi restaurant in the Nordic countries on 28 February 2020.
“It is difficult for restaurants to achieve a carbon-neutral value chain, as they have no control over suppliers and producers. Changes are needed throughout the food and agriculture sector. By achieving business-wide carbon neutrality, Sushibar+Wine is showing by example that restaurants can contribute to climate action. We hope other restaurants will follow this excellent example.” says Anna Lemström, Business Development Manager at South Poland Business Validating Corporate Carbon Neutrality.
The achievement is part of our long-term, persistent sustainability efforts!
Food waste
We always prepare our dishes to order by hand, so our food waste, and especially our serving waste, is therefore very low: only waste from the pre-processing of ingredients ends up in bio-waste. We are constantly striving to develop dishes that allow us to further reduce waste. Our super-popular Shake supreme nigiri, for example, was born out of this principle. We use the fatty part of the salmon in our nigiri, which used to end up in bio-waste during pre-processing. We receive raw material deliveries on a daily basis and we try to optimise the quantities of raw materials we order so that we can use everything as accurately as possible, and no raw materials end up in the waste bin because of unsuccessful orders.
Minimising plate waste, i.e. food left over from the diner, is the responsibility of both the customer and the wait staff. Our staff will try to help you choose the right quantity to order. However, if you ever overestimate your appetite, you can take the rest of your food home at no extra charge.
Domestic contacts
We work in partnership with Nordic interior designers. The furniture we use has always been the timeless Artek Aalto range. We regularly refurbish our furniture, which means that it lasts year after year. Our furniture is mainly from Marimekko and the Finnish woodworker Tebiani.
We want to support domestic small entrepreneurs and artists. The art in each of our restaurants is unique and we favour emerging artists. At Sushi Bar + Wine City, for example, we have worked with Aalto University photography students from the very beginning. For the Sushibar + Wine restaurant in Kallio, we have received works from two great artists, Linda Linko and Tuukka Tammisaari.
Organic and environmentally friendly choices
We have selected organic wines from small producers for our range of drinks. We work in constant collaboration with our importer, Vines, to design our range. All our wines are produced using organic methods, although not all our producers are certified organic. The majority of our other beverage options are also organic. For years we have offered plant-based oat milk as an alternative to cow’s milk at no extra charge, and we have been pleased to see that the consumption of oat milk in our restaurants is now higher than that of cow’s milk.
For take-away deliveries, we use FSC-certified cardboard with a biodegradable coating and window. Our take-away boxes are recycled as cardboard.
We are gradually moving to energy-saving LED lighting and, in addition, we use environmentally friendly wind power in all our restaurants where we manage the electricity contracts ourselves. We also try to use environmentally friendly cleaning products wherever possible. For example, we use Bioflow drain cleaner, which is a completely environmentally friendly product. We avoid using toxic chemicals, while maintaining a high level of hygiene.
Ecocompass certificate
“Environmental issues have been fully taken into account in Sushibar+Wine’s operations and the restaurant staff are well trained. The environmental objectives are very concrete and the desire for continuous improvement is evident.”
– Visia Cooperative, eco-compass auditor
Sushibar+Wine restaurants have been awarded the Eco-Compass certificate on 29.10.2019! We are committed to continuously improve our own operations in environmental matters and to operate in accordance with the criteria of Ekokompass.
