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Restaurant Puisto and café Valkoinen Puu were the first downtown cafés and restaurants to participate in Think sustainably service in Tampere. What are the issues they pay attention to in their sustainability work? You can easily reach them by using public transport or on foot, they choose raw materials sustainably, and avoid food waste.

Finnish-American delicacies responsibly

Valkoinen Puu is a café chain from Ostrobothnia, and since the early days responsibility was very important for the owners. In December 2021, they got the Ekokompassi certificate and are planning to participate in Sustainable Travel Finland programme. The café in Tampere offers cakes and lunch suitable for different diets, and it is best to arrive there on foot or by using the tram or the bus, as the café is situated at Keskustori Square.

Marketing manager Sirkku Ylikoski says that this chain has employed a person responsible for sustainability so that this topical issue is regularly discussed with the staff and visible on the web page and social media of Valkoinen Puu.

Responsibility is not only seen in raw materials but both C and Valkoinen Puu choose Finnish options whenever it is possible. C aims at buying bowls, plates and other dishes by local producers, and the online shop of Valkoinen Puu sells mugs made in Kauhajoki, where the first café of the chain was opened.

Local classic – local products

Café and restaurant Puisto at Koskipuisto Park is known for all people living in Tampere. The old building sets some challenges to responsible choices in terms of accessibility, energy consumption and waste management, however. Anette Mellin, who has been in the lead of the restaurant for half a year, has paid attention to responsibility and sustainability during her whole career at restaurants. Local food network is the key when designing the menu that changes every season.

Both Puisto and Valkoinen Puu use the ResQ Club -application to sell leftover food. According to Mellin several hundred meals are sold via the app, although the restaurant tries to avoid food waste.

One sustainability criterium is to let the customers get information on production chains. This is something all restaurants interviewed consider as very important. The customers are told about the raw materials and producers as much as they want to know. The information is partly listed also in the names of the meals.