Café Spice Namaste

Organisation type:

Café Spice

Organisation size:

Less than 30 staff (SME)

Location:

Tower Hamlets

Aim:

To demonstrate the feasibility of incorporating environmental principles into operational business and promoting environmental responsibility within the restaurant sector.

How Café Spice Namaste made a difference

Prof Cyrus Todiwala (MBE), the proprietor and founder of Café Spice Namaste, is a keen environmentalist, which is evident in the management and operation of his restaurant.

Todiwala and his team have implemented several green changes to their day-to-day business. They recycle all their bottles including glass, plastic bottles, cardboard cans, tins and compost biodegradable waste. Packaging waste is minimised through bulk purchasing and reused wherever possible, for example, plastic containers are given to local charities. The restaurant is keen to introduce the use of biodegradable takeaway packaging to further minimise packaging waste.

Paper is also reused where ever possible. Food orders are taken on used envelopes and used paper is utilised for faxes, before being recycled. Thermocol containers are stored to be reused by both the restaurant itself and their suppliers.

Other energy saving methods include checking the seals and gaskets on oven doors weekly to ensure a snug fit and minimal heat loss; weekly checks on gas burners for a blue flame and efficient combustion; shortening the drying times in dishwasher cycles; and using the residual heat in the dishwasher to dry the contents.

Two new cold rooms have recently been installed, which are more efficient and use the latest CFC free gas. A new temperature monitoring system, contracted by a company called RAG, has been installed. This system has a remote monitoring that records core temperature of all cold rooms and refrigerators and sends an alert e-mail if there’s a fault, so it can be easily rectified. Recording the core temperature and not the air temperature using a thermocouple sensor in all refrigerators reduces power consumption by around 30% and lengthens the life of the compressor by 40%.

Café Spice Namaste further reduces their carbon consumption by using system called ‘Humitech’ to regulate humidity. This prevents food and raw materials in cold rooms drying out, dehydrating or decomposing faster than they should. It also cuts the length of time the compressor needs to run for, resulting in a 20% saving on power consumption.

Grease management is also a big deal on the Café Spice Namaste agenda. Not only do they have an internal grease separator for the grease that flows into their drains, but also an organic liquid (SHURE-GO) which doses the drains over a 24 hour period to ensure that the organic matter is ‘digested’ and harmless to the drains.

Café Spice also has a ‘Grease Guardian’ which de-carbonizes trays, pots, pans, burners, burner rings and burner grills. The product, when released every fortnight, also cleanses the drains. This helps keep the burners clean of clogging, thereby giving more efficient flames and lowering the production of carbon. Pots & pans remain spotless on the outside thus remaining better conductors of heat – which once again means less fuel consumption.

The lighting in one section of the restaurant has been converted to Low Power bulbs, which have the capacity to be dimmed, making them an atmospheric choice for eateries. The savings from these bulbs is not yet known but will certainly make a big difference in the future.

Through the Enhanced Capital Allowance, Café Spice Namaste has recently purchased energy efficient air conditioning, and they are constantly seeking ways to reduce water wastage and minimise energy use.

These actions have led to Café Spice Namaste achieving Green Mark Level 1. Staff have received training on all the elements of the Green Mark, and the restaurant is also looking to translate their environmental policy into Hindi and Urdu.