Gotthards Krog and Martin & Servera in new collaboration

Every year, 120,000 tonnes of food is thrown away in swedish restaurants and commercial kitchens. A problem from many perspectives. Food production contributes to a great environmental impact and the fact that we then do not use everything we produce contributes to major environmental problems. The fact that people in other parts of the world are hungry is an ethical problem in this context. Waste is not just a misuse of resources, it is a financial waste. For everyone in the supply chain from farm to fork, great values ​​are lost.

Gotthards Krog together with the wholesaler Martin & Servera is now starting a new collaboration where – initially – fruit and vegetables that would otherwise be wasted will be used. It could be products with a short date or beauty defects that would otherwise have meant that the product was sorted out. From the rescued vegetables, the chefs at Gotthards Krog create green classics for the lunch menu, with a new dish of the day every day that is good for both the planet and the heart.

A joint venture

The collaboration works as if Gotthards Krog twice a week will find out which rejected fruits and vegetables are available and adapt its menu accordingly. This in a close dialogue with Martin & Servera and the warehouse in Umeå.

Many of these condemned fruits and vegetables actually possess unique qualities and are not infrequently in perfect maturity. It’s just a matter of knowing what to do with them. Wealth of ideas and knowledge of how the entire raw material can be used are important parts in promoting these fruits and vegetables.

We take sustainability seriously

For us at Gotthards Krog, this is a natural step in the work we do within the Blåhuset Group to create sustainable restaurant experiences and to change the view of quality. The project together with Martin & Servera is a way for us to contribute to that change and address a real problem. The demands on quality, and the definition of what quality is, have lost their footing and we in the restaurant industry must begin to take our responsibility seriously.

As chefs, we persistently hunt for the best mango or the perfectly shaped beetroot. The consequences of this approach often go unnoticed. The countless transports that take place as a result of fruits and vegetables going back and forth, back and forth, after they have been rejected by restaurant and commercial kitchens. The solution that the wholesalers have been forced to take has been to sort out and discard the vegetables, to condemn them in advance.