Sodexo : Advancing a restaurant’s circular economy, right in the back of the kitchen

The world population is projected to boom in the next 30 years, which is going to put strain on the global food supply systems. One way to reduce the strain is through the process of hyperlocal food production; growing fruits, vegetables, and herbs within the same building footprint in which they are consumed.

However, this type of process normally requires professionally designed and built spaces where the food production can take place, which raises the issue of cost. This cost factor often means that hyperlocal food production initiatives are deemed unfeasible. But that was not the end case with this story.

Launching hyperlocal food production in restaurant

In the pursuit of lowering their carbon emission, Foodhub, our restaurant in Espoo, Finland, launched a new initiative called 'Greenhub': a 'Hyperlocal Food Production' process that allows the restaurant to produce their own vegetables, fruits, and herbs, in a room right next to the restaurant.

The creative Foodhub team in Espoo, with the leadership of Ray Parnell, Facility Coordinator, took it upon themselves to learn how to design their space from scratch by testing various ideas picked up from the internet. The result is astonishing.

Serving the freshest vegetables

Greenhub is now supplying 25% of the monthly lettuce consumed in Foodhub, and that total is steadily rising. Other foods such as tomatoes & peppers, celery, and cauliflower all seem to be well suited to this growing environment. Most recently, they added a homemade mushroom incubator. The restaurant can now serve the freshest vegetables within minutes of harvest, all grown with zero herbicides or pesticides.

Growing our food from seed to table, and then back to seed after composting is the ultimate example of a circular economy!

Check out what is happening in Foodhub in thevideo below:

The future of hyperlocal food production

Greenhub was created by our team as a pilot to support the Foodhub restaurant, which can host up to 800 customers a day, with the enthusiastic of our local client. But the model is completely scalable and can be adapted to a larger quantity and wider range of vegetables as required by a location. In Finland we are registered as official primary produces for Greenhub vegetables and fully compliant with all food safety standards.

Looking to the future, we are partnering with researchers at a major Finnish University to develop better hyperlocal food production techniques. The future of these food production techniques is not yet known, but we know we will be leading the way.

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