Our Ethos
We believe in Building Community, Creating Value and Sustainable Growth. These our 3 of our Core Values and we keep them in mind when choosing who we work with.
Our community is much more than the team of people we work with and wonderful customers we see and welcome daily. It also includes out suppliers – from the talented bakers, farmers and coffee roasters to the delivery drivers and back office teams.
Many of our suppliers are the same family businesses we started working with when we first opened in 2014 and over the years, we have built relationships with them as we watched each other grow. We share a common set of values that keep us constantly reaching for a better product that is produced in a more sustainable way. All with a focus on providing the best experience we can for you.
Essentially, The best quality, sustainable and ethically sourced ingredients, from people we trust, with values we share.
Left to right: our cafe, Square Mile coffee, the front of our shop, a selection of homemade treats
Our commitment to the environment
We love the environment. To us, that means two things:
- managing our waste
- sustainable and ethically sourced ingredients from local suppliers who share our values and help reduce our carbon footprint
We will talk about our suppliers and ingredients in a moment, first let’s tell you about how we manage our waste.
Every month, across 2 sites, we generate a combined average waste of 1 Tonne! That is a scary amount of waste but what we do with it, makes us feel better.
Zero waste has goes landfill and we manage to create 700KWH of energy in the process too – That’s enough energy to power a 1 or 2 bed flat, for that whole month. That makes us feel much better.
How do we do it?
- Mixed Recycling – Paper, plastics, tins and cans
- Cardboard Recycling – Becomes something new in 14 days
- Food Waste – reduce methane and helping to make renewable energy instead.
- Coffee Grounds – our ground coffee is sent to UK based bio-bean who turn them into biofuels and essential oils that cut greenhouse emissions
- Compostable food packaging
- Zero-to-landfill – we cannot recycle everything but we can generate Green energy from it instead.
We aim to remove single use plastics completely by 2021. That is why we are now selling not only reusable cups but lunch boxes as well. Bring your own Tupperware and you get a discount. No brainer. No worries if you forgot it, our takeaway packaging is completely recyclable and/or compostable.
Our Food
All our ingredients are locally sourced where possible, so we are able to actually see where it comes from and make sure it is as fresh as possible. We make all our food from scratch in our Primrose Hill kitchen, that is with one exception – our wonderful Organic Sourdough Bread.
Bakery
Bread & Pastries: Seven Seeded Bakery
For our bread, we have been working with Seven Seeded, a family run bakery who have been baking real bread and pasties since 2006, just down the road in Watford.
Flours & Grains: Doves Farm
Another Family Business, based on their organic farm in North Wessex Downs, they have been milling award winning, historic, heritage grains since 1978.
Confectionary
Our Nuts and Dried Fruits, Spices and Beans come from several suppliers we have been working with since the day we opened and spread across the UK, with our main partner based in Waltham Abbey, Essex.
Dairy
Yogurts: Tims Dairies
A family business that is over 70 years old, Tims Dairy continues to make multi award-winning and delicious live and bio-live yogurts in the Chiltern Hills using fresh pasteurised British milk, cream and only natural ingredients.
Eggs
All our eggs are Free Range and have the familiar Red stamp of British Lion Eggs
Fruit & Vegetables
All our fruit and Veg comes from New Covent Garden Market in London and is delivered by one of our closest and biggest partners, our very own Yeomans on Regents Park Road, Primrose Hill.
Meats and Proteins
All our Meat and Protein comes from Smithfield Meat Market in London and we only use the best cuts of free range produce.
Our drinks
Coffee
Square Mile Coffee Roasters
Founded in 2008 by world champion baristas, Square Mile is a multi-award-winning specialty coffee roasting company based a few miles East from us in Walthamstow. They have grown to become one of our main partners, not only because of the amazing and consistent quality of their coffee but because they have spent over a decade building relationships with generations of farmers and work directly with them, offering them a fair price and real partnership.
The Barn
Based a little further afield in Berlin, Germany and one of our few suppliers based outside the UK, The Barn are another award-winning Roaster who provide all our filter based coffee. We have been working with them for a few years now and their focus on personal farm relationships and the Direct Trade sourcing model helps them to maintain their position as one of the World’s leading coffee roasters.
Tea
Primrose Hill Teas
Our sister company based here in Primrose Hill and providing healthy and delicious premium Quality Loose Leaf Tea Blends. Using real leaves, spices, fruits and even vegetables that are purchased from estates that strive to produce the very best quality and as a result we pay a premium for their teas so a percentage will go back into the health and welfare of the employees – in simple terms, if we pay more, more money goes back to the employees.
Milks
Brades Farm Milk
Brades Farm Milk is a mix of Jersey and Holstein, has a higher butterfat and protein content than standard milks and is unhomogenised. The milk is fully traceable back to their herd in the beautiful Lune Valley, Lancashire. Constantly innovating, the family have introduced a freedom to choose policy, have managed to reduce the methane emissions of their herd and are constantly looking at ways to reduce their environmental impact.
Rude Health Organic Coconut drink
Founded in 2005 and based in Wandsworth, Rude Health is another family run business that is not only local but makes the best coconut milk we could find.
Oatly
Founded back in the 1990s and based on Swedish research from Lund University, Oatly is another one of our few suppliers based outside the UK. Once you have tasted their Oat milk however, you will understand why we use them – simply delicious.
