Partnering with 100% Circular for a more Sustainable Restaurant Industry

Electrolux Professional partners with 100% Circular, a future-oriented sustainability award- and innovation program that aims to accelerate the transition towards a circular economy and a sustainable restaurant industry, initiated by White Guide Sweden.

The innovation program covers the whole of Sweden and, during 2022, restaurants and entrepreneurs closely connected to the industry have been invited to apply for the award. The proposed projects concern sustainable and circular thinking in restaurants – but each have their own focus, such as reusable packaging, circular business models, cultivation, education, and social sustainability.

To win the award and benefit from the innovation support, the project must be relevant to the global sustainability goals and be both scalable and measurable. It should also have potential for impact – thereby spreading the influence of the project to the rest of the restaurant industry as well as to consumers.

Among the entries, the 100% Circular jury selected the ideas that they judged best fitted the programme’s criteria, with their focus on various aspects of sustainability and the circular economy – a system for local production of perfect drinking water with a minimal eco footprint, an education program from farm to kitchen and a self-sufficient mountain restaurant.

“The restaurant industry plays an important role in the transition towards a more sustainable future. We partner with White Guide 100% Circular with the ambition to inspire changes and to contribute towards solving the global food challenges together, and by starting with Sweden do we hope the project will inspire more countries”, says Jennie Walther, 360 Mar&Com and Activation Manager Food Europe and member of the advisory board.

“This is a forward-looking award where the winning proposals receives coaching by people with the right knowledge and competence who can take the idea further. The lessons learned are then spread to inspire others in restaurants, bars, bakeries, and cafes to switch to a circular economy, contributing to a unique development and exchange of experience” Says Viktoria Roos, Open Innovation Leader at Electrolux Professional and member of the jury.

The winners were presented with an award ceremony at Electrolux Professional in Stockholm 5th of December 2022.

Turnkey miniature water factories – Wayout International, Stockholm

The innovation targets one of today’s – and the future’s – biggest global challenges: clean water. By using solar cells to purify local water, transport can be minimized, and packaging waste eliminated. In large parts of the world, the solution is already of vital importance as a local source of safe drinking water, but even for Sweden the system offers a resilient and commercial alternative for local drinking water supply.

Inspiration program from farm to kitchen – Lilla Bjers Gårdskrog, Visby

For having created a way to convey 25 years of experience in sustainable vegetable cultivation directly linked to a circular restaurant business. The inspiration program on the farm have already led to widespread knowledge from the participants to other businesses. By developing the content and making the knowledge accessible to all restaurants in Sweden, there is a great potential to influence the future of the industry.

Self-sufficient restaurant in the mountains – Skoogs Krog & Logi, Funäsdalen

The climate impact – and the rising costs – that come with long-distance transport of produce, makes the idea of ​​running a self-sufficient restaurant in the mountains even more relevant and exciting. The plan to run both the current restaurant circularly, and to create circular flows between restaurants and food artisans, growers and breeders in the local community and in Härjedalen, is too urgent not to be realized. The jury consisted of several of Sweden’s most innovative chefs and sustainability experts with deep knowledge of circular economy and gastronomy. The jury is supported by advisers and other experts in circular economy and sustainability.

The 100% Circular Award was established in 2016 by White Guide and Stockholm Gas. The award is being developed into an innovation program in collaboration with Electrolux Professional and other Swedish partners together with representatives from the research and innovation sector like RISE – Research Institutes of Sweden, Axfoundation, Good Food Capital, Generation Waste and Restaurangakademien

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Photos: Erik Olsson