Retaining sustainability in today’s context is a vital aspect that requires close attention of all entrepreneurs, although the reality of how it’s maintained remains questionable. Shana Dandeniya is the proud owner of Café Kumbuk and PLUS NINE FOUR; two of Colombo’s forerunners that have successfully paved the way towards crafting a wholesome lifestyle. She brought to light the initiatives she facilitates in her own businesses along with the practicalities associated with it. To start off with, could you share with us what life was like growing up? I was born in Sydney, Australia and was three when we moved to England. I grew up between London and Bristol. While pretty much all my schooling was there, I went to university in London at LCC, part of the University of Arts London, and got my undergraduate degree in Creative Advertising. Growing up in the UK was incredible, I am so fortunate to have been able to do so. What made you return back to your roots? After graduating I had to make a decision whether to move back to Sri Lanka, where my family had settled, or whether to stay in London and look for a job. At the time, the cost of living in London was rising and it was becoming too expensive for me to stay, which is why I decided to give it a go back home in Sri Lanka! That being said, my parents made sure my sister and I always stayed close to our Sri Lankan roots by bringing us back on holidays. It always felt like home to me, although at the time I had no idea what I would do for work. Your cafes embody a sustainable environment whilst leading a healthy lifestyle, through the consumption of wholesome food. What sparked this interest in you? When I arrived back in Sri Lanka, my first job before starting the cafe was working for the Good Market. I was aware of the foundations of sustainability, but it was my work with the Good Market team that sparked off further interest in it. I learnt a great deal about organic food, certifications, environmental practices and sustainability. This broadened my understanding and allowed me to see how small changes could create a larger impact. This is why we put so many of these practices into our work at our cafes. It’s no surprise that the maintenance of a restaurant or cafe will inevitably have damaging effects to the environment. Not many restaurants focus on this; as an entrepreneur, what is your perspective on this matter? There are a number of measures our team has put in place to try and limit the use of; single use plastics, chemicals, garbage disposal, food waste, and water wastage. One is to make sure our team understands and works towards the common cause. The second is finding alternatives and solutions to various issues – you’d be surprised, when you put your mind to it there are a great deal of things you can do to limit such damaging effects. Slowly but surely more cafe and restaurant owners are starting to make changes to their business practices, in order to become more environmentally friendly and although some see it as a bit of a ‘fad’, even such small changes should be noted and considered positive. Going green could be a task on its own. Are there any practical and cost effective methods that could be adopted by restaurant owners? Could you shed some light on the techniques you’ve implemented at your own businesses? It is tough to go completely green – in some areas we are still struggling, but we are working towards finding solutions for the areas we can. At our cafes, we’ve swapped plastic straws for stainless steel and for those customers who are not too keen on using that, we offer paper straws. We use foil and paper take-away containers, paper take-away cups (although we are still working on the lids as we can’t seem to find an alternative in Sri Lanka as yet) wooden take-away cutlery and brown paper take-away bags. Our Kumbuk Homemade range which we sell at various outlets only comes in glass jars or paper bags. We’ve requested our suppliers to limit their use of plastic, and have given some of them reusable crates in which to deliver our goods, rather than them turning up with plastic bags every day (it does happen sometimes, but we are trying to educate the suppliers we work with too). At PLUS NINE FOUR, our newly opened sister cafe, we worked with Eco Lanka Consultants to put up a small vertical garden which is where our chefs cut herbs from weekly in order to use in our dishes. We don’t serve water in plastic bottles, only in glass and even these are recycled (customers cannot take them away). We offer 10% off to anyone who brings in a reusable cup or container for take away items, thereby rewarding them for doing their bit for the environment. These are some basic practices that start-ups can initiate although there are plenty more. I would say start with these and ponder on all else that can be done. As the festive season dawns upon us, many restaurants go all-out organising festivities to uphold that Christmas cheer! Unfortunately with that comes a price, one paid by the environment. How can restaurants get around these activities with minimal damage to the environment? To be honest, we don’t do many ‘activities’ as such, we’ve got a lot of pop-up shops this month and for those we have teamed up with excellent vendors who are in line with our ethos and look after the environment. A number of the vendors we have teamed up with are Good Market approved, therefore good for people and the planet. We’ve tried to limit our decor to paper and we even purchased a coir reusable Christmas tree from Eco Lanka Consultants for PLUS NINE FOUR, we hope to do the same soon for Cafe Kumbuk. We have made a conscious decision not to use lighting this year as well. Box Headline: Tips to be environmentally friendly this season! · Use paper decorations when you can, and why not invest in a reusable coir Christmas tree?! · Limit lighting, if you need to, opt for LED lights as they use 80% less energy and last 10 times longer than ordinary bulbs · Sending out paper cards is good but why not opt to E-cards (leaves zero waste!) · Gift your loved ones with things that encourage them to live a more eco-friendly lifestyle, for example: bamboo toothbrushes, stainless steel a straw, reusable cutlery sets etc. · Eco friendly gift wrapping – limit the use of plastic! Photos: Benjamin Jones