SUSTAINABILITY PLAN 2024 - 2025

Foreword

For us sustainability is much more than just a ‘green trend’. It has been built in our company values and strategies since the beginning. We aim to work towards the highest sustainability industry standards and in everything we do. Sustainability is an essential part of how we run our day-to-day businesses. This Sustainability Plan is based on our previous plan dated on January 2023 written by Toni Kostian. The core mission is to openly and honestly share our key guidelines and daily practices to all individuals working at Grön and everyone interested. This paper is a brief overview of our work towards sustainability. We would like to thank everyone who has contributed to this process. For more information on the project and our sustainability plan feel free to contact:

Toni Kostian, Restaurateur and Executive head chef, Restaurant Grön, toni@restaurantgron.com
Gordon Yam, Head chef and Sustainability project manager, gordon@restaurantgron.com

Jump to section:
Produce / Meat and poultry / Fish and seafood / Our food and menu / Front of house values / Energy consumption / Company values and people / Recycling and waste / Communication / Key actions and indicators / Main challenges / The future

We highlight local, wild, seasonal and organic produce. All of our food produce excluding salt and a few exceptions, are from the Scandinavian area and most of it from Finland. We follow the seasons and we do not use anything outside their natural growth season. We have developed our own unique way of preserving ingredients when they are in season and as a result we are able to use them on our menu during the cold winter months when nothing is growing.

We aim to meet all our producers on a regular basis. We will continue inviting producers to participate in our own internal meetings to share their knowledge and educate our staff members about their produce. We only use producers that share and respect our values and sustainability is one of our key producer selection criteria. Before starting working together with producers we prefer meeting them in person by visiting their production facility area. If that is not possible, due to long distance for instance, we kindly ask the producer to provide us with pictures taken from their production space and any additional information we may regard necessary. It is also highly important for us when serving our customers to be able to tell them up-to-date information on farms and produce.

We want to ensure that all animals we are buying are treated in accordance with the highest ethical standards. We are highly concerned about the well-being of the animals throughout its whole life cycle. Toni Kostian will continue foraging all wild produce and we have reserved Tuesdays and Thursdays mornings for that purposes only in order to ensure the best possible wild ingredients and herbs available at that time. Again during spring 2024 we will plant as much seeds and produce to able us to use only herbs and flowers from our own garden located in Sipoo during the spring, summer and fall season 2024. No GMO produce or artificial food coloring are used in our kitchen.

We continue working and developing our own vegan produce to be used in our cooking. As from beginning of this year we have made a decision not to use any foreign vegan produce for example soy, coconut or rice based produce. We do not use coconut oil in our kitchen either. We use mainly oat based vegan produce produced in Finland. We continue our research of using mold/bacteria to create cheese flavor to vegan produce by aging them the same way as cheese. We continue our work with using Finnish vegan cheese produce on our cooking instead of using similar milk based cheese. For example In 2019 we did a successful 2 month trial with vegan Brie cheese with great results and winter 2020 we successfully created a produce from root vegetables and Koji bacteria that matched the flavor and texture of dried meat. We will continue gathering more information and well working recipes on using vegan produce in all of our cooking

Our main focus is to use organic Finnish meat and poultry produce. We demand that all meat protein is from farms which satisfy Finnish welfare standards and our own guidelines and practices. We work together only with farms that promote animal welfare and are open for us to visit at all times. We have a close relationship with local hunters and use as much game as possible within the legal times hunting as allowed. We follow closely for seasons and the natural cycle of the environment. At Grön we prefer using the whole animal (in both meat and fish) in order to assure that the whole animal is used. No use of foie gras or anything that violate animals’ well-being. We will keep using reduced meat broths, koi bacteria and dried meat in our cooking which allow us to increase the meat/umami flavor on a dish without adding any extra protein. Our cooking contains no hydrogenated fat. All eggs are from cage-free organic farms.

In our kitchen we use only 100% Sustainably sourced fish and seafood only from the Scandinavian area using recognized certification schemes e.g. Marine Stewardship Council (MSC). Besides MSC we do heavily rely on experience and values of Toni Kostian on all used marine produce. Accordingly we have promised not to use any salmon species of fish or any sourced fish that may harm the growth and the population of any salmon species. By using only line-caught or wire fish-trapped fish, we assure that fishing techniques used there will be no accidental by-catch that could in turn have harmful effect on any other than targeted fish species. We follow closely the rules and regulations of minimum measures (CM) of fish caught and have refused using fish mongers who are not fully aware of their fishermen's actions or the minimum measures in force in EU including Finland. We pay an annual fee and a larger donation on protecting all wild salmon species of fish to Virho and by this we can aim to help the fish population having more free running rivers and more areas for fish to spawn as well as increasing the overall population in Finnish waters.

At Grön we make tasty, focused, plant-based and inspiring food that has a strong emphasis on high-quality and the season. We highlight sustainability as individual and as a restaurant in all day-today businesses. We are much more than just food. We are ground zero of cooking sustainably with Finnish ingredients, ways and methods. We offer two menu options from, which one is fully vegan. Grön Menu is 14-17 courses, depending on the season. The food is based on seasonal, organic, local, wild and the Scandinavian produce. Our menu is largely determined by what is growing at that time. Vegan or vegetarian dishes are equal to all our regular dishes. Toni Kostian is in charge of all our menu planning. He is constantly working on finding new interesting techniques and produce for us to work with. Our unique craftsmanship and handwork can be seen in all our cooking across the whole menu. Our approach is unique showing high talents with perfect execution. Our menu planning always starts with some beautiful produce, vegetables, herbs which will give the inspiration for the new dish and then, if necessary, we may add animal protein. Major part of our dishes including animal protein will gets most of its umami/ meat flavor from using a meat based broth or, for example, smoked fat that already gives customers that ”meaty feeling”. The days of the Chateaubriand are over and the whole animal needs to be used with the same care as the more ”valued” parts.

We use only Scandinavian materials in our furniture and all decors. Our tables are made by a Finnish designer maker .TEBIAN, using FSC certified wood. Chairs are hand-made by a Danish carpenter. We continue working with Finnish ceramists only. All our pottery is designed for our unique styles and preferences using Finnish or recycled materials and clay considered environmentally friendly. We use fresh wild flowers as decor when available and these will be foraged twice a week by Toni Kostian. During winter months we use dried flowers as decoration which have been picked and dried during their natural growth season. Our menus are printed on recycled paper. We have cutlery designed by a Finnish designer made in Finland by using Finnish materials. All willow cutlery or plates are in-house designed and crafted by Toni Kostian. We expect all our materials used to be durable lasting at least for two years.

Our wine list is gathered using natural and organic wines and by companies we know personally and share the same values with. We do a seasonal juice pairing and that can be enjoyed with the menu as well as the wine pairing. We offer a mixed beverage package. We always aim to be flexible and creative to meet our customer preferences perfectly.

We only use seasonal produce, cold press our own juices and tap water as the base when needed. No store bought juices are used. Much of the ‘leftovers’ vegetal material (which other people may think as trash) are used in our kitchen. Most of our juices served during winter time are made from ‘leftover vegetables’ that we have either dried, fermented or preserved somehow with in the growth season. Tap water is the first option we offer. We do not have a drink pairing or multiple drinks to choose from. From now on we will have only a few cocktails available at the time which is based in anything we have preserved ourselves. Nothing imported outside Scandinavia should get used making that drink. We have the same idea of not using anything imported outside Scandinavia at the front of house either. Exceptions for this is wine produce and some distilled spirits.

We only use coffee beans from coffee roasters sharing the same values as we do. We offer hot infusions besides tea and coffee, done with wild produce. During summer months produce for the infusions are used fresh and during the winter they will get used dried.

In 2019 we trained a special welcoming as a group to all entering and leaving customers, we will continue perfecting it during 2024-2025 and looking for similar actions to further fine tune our customer experience in the future

Energy consumption is a major issue when cooking and running a restaurant. We have changed all our electrical equipment to achieve a lower level of energy consumption including fridges and freezers. We are constantly aiming for reducing our energy consumption. Therefore during 2020 March we changed our ovens (2) to new and as a result of this we are able to use 25% less energy. We train our staff to use electricity only when needed and to shut down equipment when not needed.

We have so called ”kalastajansähkö” (‘fisherman’s electricity¨) at Grön which produces electricity by wind power and bioenergy locally. By that we can assure that no hydropower energy is used in our restaurant. Hydropower or hydroelectricity refers to the conversion of energy from flowing water into electricity. Since free running rivers are the way of the future (we believe) and a way to have our fish population to rise to a level that it could be.

We also have set a new standard that we do not use greenhouse grown herbs or vegetables during the winter months since it takes a lot of energy and water to grow the during winter months.

All our staff will get training on our company values and sustainability plans on a yearly basis. This is to ensure that our staff has the right and up-to-date information available. The welfare of our staff is a key ingredient for our success, which we believe, in turn, has a direct impact on increasing the level of work efficiency as well as increasing the loyalty and the overall satisfaction of our employees. We have now managed to cut down our working hours from a 5 day week to a 4 day working week. With this change we have managed to assure that our workers will have enough time to rest even during the working week.

After working full time for 3 years we have offered our employees an opportunity to experience 2 to 4 weeks internship abroad during, which we have made a promise to pay the employee 50% of their salary during those weeks. In turn we expect them coming back to us for a period of at least one year during which they will teach us on other food cultures.

At Grön we highly believe that the working environment is a place where all people should feel safe and relaxed. No racism, sexism or any kind of discrimination is allowed. We are a team and all equal to one another. All workers are advised to report when any of any harmful discrimination are witnessed. We are a strong group of people working together and individually towards our common goals.

We promise to stay truthful and honest in everything we do; advertising, cooking and how we run a restaurant. We believe that who we are as people and as a restaurant will automatically effect on others around us as well. We continue working closely with other restaurants, arranging pop ups and making joined orders from small producers in Scandinavia. Working together this way will allow us to work more sustainably and cutting down shipping expenses. We believe that making Finland a better food destination will automatically help everyone, we can achieve more together and with everyone’s help.

We aim to minimize food and packaging waste on all stages of food production and serving of food. Simply put there is no food waste during preparation time, it can all be used somehow. We preserve most of the plant parts that cannot be used at the time in order to save them for later use, for instance, to add more flavor. Only parts of plants or animals that are naturally unedible or poisonous will be recycled.

We recycle everything and separate all trash to match the highest standard. We recycle all trash in a recycling/garbage room organized by our landlord. Unfortunately, because of our limited space, we are not able to have a working compost within our own space, but we are hoping to find a way to accomplish this as well in the near future.

Working closely with our small producers have enabled us to come up with new ideas to minimize food and packaging waste. We have agreed with our producers that only the product itself is to be delivered to us and all the shipping boxes will be re-used by producers themselves for the next delivery.

Restaurant Grön aims to develop and experiment with new ways of linking research to policy-making in the field of sustainable fine dining and everyday production. In order to do so, we have been leveraging new technologies exploiting social media as well for that purposes. We highlight sustainability on social media, but not with pressuring people but with pictures of high quality produce and moments of our every day actions. We believe that being sustainable is a standard and not a marketing method, but something that all restaurant should be built on.

We highlight our close relationship with all our producers. We are excited to be able to forage ourselves all wild herbs used in our kitchen which is perfectly in line with our efforts to meet the highest industry standards in terms of sustainability as well. We have found our own unique way of communicating along with seasons which give all our customers an honest and open picture of our values and produce.

Toni Kostian promotes us and our company values, he has commitment to increase the awareness of sustainability.

We have gathered a set of basic indicators as a guide to follow our sustainability plans. With these main actions we can create new plans and ideas on how to get Grön working on a more sustainable way. A set of key actions and indicators are outlined below:

• Local as possible, in everything we do

• Percentage of sustainably grown and organic ingredients in our menu planning, minimum of 90% on our menu. Most of the time non-organic ingredients are used is because of the fact that they do not have the organic (luomu) recognition, for example game and wild herbs

• Seasonality, minimum amount of produce shipped from outside Scandinavia or using them outside their natural growth season

• Using ingredients we have preserved during growth season and using them during the winter months.

• Maintain the same percentage of vegan or vegetarian dishes served on the menu

• Trained staff to be aware of our values as a working environment and as a company that has a high interest on sustainability. Annual training in sustainability and equality issues.

• Written sustainability policy and the follow up

• No single use plastic containers or straws are available

• Staff well-being

• Annual performance appraisal with staff members and to have a follow up to assure how the personal goals are achieved

• Reducing the amounts of unnecessary meat and protein in our food

• Follow up on energy consumption every 3 months

• Truthful and honest ways of promoting and advertising our restaurant

• Our follow up on our sustainability strategy

Organic food production needs to keep up with the all the time growing demand. Finding new interesting organic high quality producers that work with the same values. The time spend doing ”exploring” different producers is always away from something, but we highly believe that its more to this then just cooking. Finding more and more time for sourcing ingredients and producers is one of the challenges set again for the summer and the growth season of 2024-2025. More and more increasing prize of local and organic produce and how to find balance in cost and income.

Finding ways to connect with the Finnish government to help restaurants promote sustainability, Finland as a food destination and our top restaurants for future travelers to visit. At the same time we are struggling on ways to find environmentally sustainable ways of travel and tourism with a minimal foot print on the environment.

Covid-19 crisis and other world events has put the whole industry to rethink their ways and financial issues. We are truly hoping that we have seen the end of this Global crisis and we are now towards more stable times in order for all to start thinking and acting more sustainably.

Targeting to only on local and organic produce and to help create the market for sustainable restaurant culture locally and internationally. We aim to be the leader of sustainable gastronomy and a place for our co-workers to find their own true values personally and professionally. Since the future of sustainability needs to be more than what we do now as a community we aim to expand our values as a restaurant for the customers and our co-workers.

We aim for the Michelin`s green clover and 360 Eat guide again on 2024-2025, as our values meet theirs at the same time we hope to get more recognition as a sustainable restaurant. We aim to have more time off for our staff and find a more sustainable way for all staff to have a better quality in everyday life. We take a new approach and continue leading people and giving our staff a working environment where they can get energy from their work, simply gain more than they lose.

Toni Kostian will re-evaluate this sustainability plan during March 2025. That sustainability plan will be done using the base of this thesis.