Sustainable journey of a Green Key certified restaurant featured on CNN

The Michelin awarded restaurant Grič in Slovenia has been a Green Key certified establishment since 2021.

Grič is the Slovenian word for hill. ©Suzan Gabrijan

Located in the green village of Šentjošt, a few kilometres away from Ljubljana, the Grič restaurant has made it on the Slovenian gastronomy map since becoming a Michelin star awarded restaurant in September of 2021. Young chef Luka Košir’s cuisine has been praised in the last couple of years due to his choice of local and seasonal products, some of which are produced by Grič’s team at their own farm.

Sustainability has been part of the Slovenian chef’s motto even before joining the Michelin starlight sky. In August 2021, one month before being featured in the restaurant’s prestigious red-coloured guide, Grič received its first Green Key certification, solidifying its commitment towards a greener and more sustainable hospitality industry. To become a Green Key certified establishment, Grič’s practices were assessed against a rigorous set of standards, requiring restaurants to increase the share of organic, eco or fair-trade labelled products yearly, for example. On the restaurant’s sustainable actions, Luka Košir said to the Michelin Guide: “We are 80% self-supporting with vegetables, 50% with fruits, and we also grow mushrooms. Foraging is an everyday task even in wintertime and is a big part of the restaurant's identity. We have a zero-waste policy when it comes to garden produce; we use the hard parts of the vegetables for compost and some vegetables and fruits as an extra treat for our animals. We have the first certified ecological duck farm”.

Slovenian Luka Košir is the current chef of the restaurant. ©Suzan Gabrijan

Grič has its own duck farm. ©Suzan Gabrijan

More recently, Grič’s sustainable efforts have also caught the attention of CNN, which featured the Green Key certified restaurant on their website. In the article, journalist Megan Alldrige describes the chef’s work as “blazing a trail for a more sustainable restaurant industry”. Moreover, the CNN story highlights how the surrounding forests and hills of Slovenia inspire the process of creating a dish, from the gardens to Grič’s table.

Read more about this Green Key’s certified restaurant here.

Two of Cardiff’s favourite cafés gain international environmental award

The Green Key programme in Wales goes from strength to strength as two of Cardiff’s favourite foodie hotspots are recognised for operating is a sustainable way.

Penylan Pantry and the Secret Garden café have been recognised for their sustainability efforts and have become the latest businesses in Wales to achieve the Green Key award.

Penylan Pantry is at the heart of the community in Penylan and so much more than an average café. They are also a corner shop and deli that promotes local producers, the community and the environment. They are passionate about the wonderful produce available in Wales and are proud to support their local producers, bakers, makers, farmers and dairies.

The team at the Pantry are also responsible for another of Cardiff’s iconic cafés. Last year they took on a lease to run the Secret Garden Café in Bute Park’s walled garden as well. They operate this establishment in the same responsible way.

Owner Mellissa Boothman says:

As a business owner and employer, it’s my responsibility to run my business as sustainabily as I can for the future of our planet, and the next generation. Receiving a Green Key award is a huge achievement for us all at the Pantry, and we are super super pleased. This award is an acknowledgement that sustainability is at the heart of Penylan Pantry, and to be recognised as a sustainable business means a lot to us. 

She adds:

The future of our natural world is in our hands, sustainable practice needs to become the norm. Businesses can play a vital part in this, they are perfect for setting a good example, leading the way in sustainability, inspiring, sharing ideas and promoting sustainable tips on social media platforms, with customers, and in advertisement 

Businesses throughout the sector in Wales are eligible to apply for Green Key. This includes bed and breakfasts, hotels, self-catering accommodation, camp sites, conference centres, restaurants and attractions.

Nick Ashby, Green Key Coordinator at Keep Wales Tidy says:

We’d like to congratulate Penylan Pantry and the Secret Garden Cafe on their success. We’ve seen mounting concern about the damage that’s being caused to our natural environment, so it’s important to recognise and celebrate Welsh businesses that are taking the lead on sustainability.

An important part of Green Key is education of both customers and staff and it’s great to see the Pantry staff taking this to heart by organising trips to help improve their knowledge of green issues, they recently visited a local recycling centre to better understand how their waste is handled and what they can do to prevent waste going to landfill.

 For more information, visit the Green Key website www.greenkey.cymru.

Ocean Baskets want to make plastic straws history

Seafood restaurant chain Ocean Basket has launched ‘The Last Straw’ a national campaign in Cyprus.

The pollution of our oceans due to plastic waste has become a major topic in the media and in political discussions. Only recently, the EU banned the use of certain single-use plastic products to help the oceans recover from decades of plastic pollution.

Some businesses, like the Green Key awarded Ocean Baskets in Cyprus, are already one step ahead of the game. Since May 2018, plastic straws have been banned from all nine restaurants on the island. The restaurant chain is the first in Cyprus to launch a campaign against plastic straws. Guests are informed about the campaign though signs on the tables and posters. If a guest does not want to skip the straw, they are offered an eco-friendly alternative upon request.

Ocean Basket’s great initiative to reduce the use of plastic doesn’t stop here. All their restaurants have replaced plastic bottles with glass bottles and the styrofoam takeaway boxes have been replaced by paper boxes. Their ambition is to stop providing anything made out of plastic to their customers.

Furthermore, Ocean Basket participates in several initiatives to raise awareness about marine litter and plastic pollution. In cooperation with the Cypriot organisation running Green Key (CYMEPA) they organise beach cleanups around Cyprus with the involvement of hundreds of young students and their staff members.

In addition, together with CYMEPA, Ocean Basket have designed the “My Responsible Ocean Citizen Little Blue Book” for schools to engage children in the protection of the oceans.