22/02/20
ON WASTAGE
One the more difficult aspects of launching atis has been working out what is most important to the consumer and therefore where to devote the majority of one’s time as a business owner; we knew that food quality was important, as was price, but what else? Some other potential points of focus were store design, supply chain (food provenance) and clarity of the menu – however the biggest discovery has been how much people care about wastage.
So we have taken four key steps since we launched atis in October:
- – Reducing portion size (and prices) – the early feedback we received was that portions and prices were too large/high, people didn’t want to eat as much as we thought they would and they also wanted prices to come down. People were very conscious of the fact that the larger portions resulted in food waste. We have since released a smaller bowl with lower prices. Lunch now starts at £5 and the new portion size results in less waste.
- – Eating in – when atis started we had one type of packaging; biodegradable bowls and plastic lids. Lids were given out irrespective of whether customers were eating in or not; and in retrospect this did not make sense. Last month we brought out eat-in bowls made of bamboo packaging and the feedback has been good. The nice thing is that this was a clear win-win case – consumers are happy and we save on packaging.
- – Waste disposal – since the start we have partnered with First Mile who split our waste into food waste, recycling, coffee and general waste. We are proud that in December 75% of our waste did not go to landfill.
- – Packaging – we have partnered with London Bio Packaging and use only compostable products (all bowls & cutlery) or recycled plastic (lids, take-away drinks container). If plastic is used, it is able to be further recycled
If you have suggestions on what we can do better, drop us an email at [email protected] – we’d love to hear from you!
[Photo from Nick Thackray Creative]