How to make a restaurant eco-friendly and at the same time save money: an interview with the founder of the Parnik bar-farm Evgenia Shassanyar

From the age of 14, Zhenya Chassagniard helped her parents develop the Michel restaurant, and then opened her own establishments: the Untitled space, the Parnik bar-farm, the Marie Laveau restaurant.

Zhenya is actively introducing eco-practices into his business, explaining this not only by caring for nature, but also by significant savings. We asked her to tell her how to "green" a restaurant and save money at the same time - using the example of the Parnik bar-farm.

I created "Parnik" because I lacked an institution that would support the "green" trend and at the same time be accessible to a wide range of people. Yes, I cannot call myself an eco-activist, if only because I sometimes eat meat. But I am close to the idea of ​​caring for nature. "Greenhouse" is an example of how they can be implemented in business.

Food court with vegetarian cuisine and reasonable prices

There are restaurants with the concept of total zero wasteA social movement whose main goal is to reduce the amount of waste as much as possible. ("zero waste"). I cannot boast of this. "Parnik" is a food court, and we are forced, for example, to put napkins on the tables.

I'm used to attacks like: "How can you be environmentally friendly if you don't do this, this, and that?!" But in fact, it is very difficult for a business to be completely green. So our story is about compromise.

The compromise also concerns our relations with residents. After all, opening a food court is not the same as open a restaurant. Here you just rent points - you invite people who have their own established business. And they have 100% the right to run it however they want, except for the general use of the site. Such as start and finish times.

If these rules are not followed, you can scold them, fine them, but do not interfere. You have to respect their workflow. And sometimes it's difficult because we all have different priorities. I try to be democratic in my dealings with people.

When we selected restaurants for cornersCorner is a catering point.There were many different contenders. But it wasn't that hard to decide. First, I paid attention to my feelings from communication. Secondly, I evaluated the product and its quality.

I focused on vegan and vegetarian cuisines - most restaurants are like that. The use of vegetable ingredients instead of animal products (AFP) helps the environment: most of the pollution is produced by the meat industry. But the variety of food was also important. Therefore, one court in the Greenhouse prepares steaks and burgers.

In addition, thanks to this format, we manage to maintain the most democratic price tag. We do not have waiters, and the price in restaurants is higher precisely due to the service.

When compared with fast food-institutions, then in the "Parnik" you can dine for about the same cost. But the quality will be much better. For example, take the same burger. With us, it will cost the same as in budget institutions - 250-350 rubles. There are, of course, for 600-900 - more expensive ones. Their price depends on the imported vegetable meat that is used in the composition.

Observation: often people come to us in companies where everyone has different preferences in food. And it is convenient for visitors when you can order both vegan and non-vegan food. A democratic price tag, among other things, makes our dishes more accessible and conveys the idea: in order to eat tasty and at the same time without ASF in the composition of food, it is not necessary to spend millions.

city ​​farm

The idea to create a farm appeared due to a happy coincidence. The biggest pain at the time of the opening of the Greenhouse was the lack of good products.

I really wanted to grow my own, to be sure of the quality and not throw away waste. With salads, for example, there is an eternal story: if you buy already cut sheets, then all the time you have to get rid of those that have already rotted, because they have lost their presentation.

Initially, I did not know about the city farm system. Of course, I imagined what hydroponics. But I didn’t think that it could just be taken and integrated into the restaurant space.

At first we wanted to install hanging beds. But the flies and the humidity scared me. And then I was brought together with Vladislav Terekhov, who is engaged in the creation of city farms. He was also very hooked on the idea of ​​integrating this system into the restaurant space. After all, usually the beds are placed in closed hangars, and no one sees this beauty.

It took almost a year to install the farm. We prepared beautiful design modules, selected certain types of seeds, installed a system temperature and humidity control to maintain a climate that is comfortable for everyone plants.

And so, when the first harvest grew, we were happy! Still couldn't believe it was real! Before that, I only saw how restaurants grow microgreens. But lettuce, and maybe even vegetables… It seemed fantastic. And now everything is in flux. By the way, we recently grew radishes!

But on an ongoing basis, we mostly only have greens. Lettuce, for example, can be grown in three weeks. From three to four weeks he is at his optimal weight - then you can already start using it. At the 6-7th week, it already begins to taste bitter, but usually we remove it long before that in order to insert new seedlings into the vacated holes.

The harvest is close enough, and we never throw anything away. Sometimes you even have to slow down sales if something is a little undersized.

It takes little effort to keep the farm running. Usually the same guys who work in the salad bar are responsible for planting the plants. Landing occurs once every few days and takes an hour at most. You can catch an employee behind this process in the morning, during working hours.

Observation: farm is very convenient. There is always fresh greens, for which you do not have to pay and from which there is no waste. And the cost of production is significantly lower than when using conventional beds. Because you practically do not need people - the system works by itself.

Seasonal and Farm Products

We try to buy most of the products on the market - this way we can choose better products from local manufacturers. And at the same time they cost us less than if we cooperated with suppliers.

Here, by the way, there is a nuance: if we were talking about meat and dairy products, then they could only be taken from suppliers with documents - according to law1. Decree of the Chief State Sanitary Doctor of the Russian Federation of October 27, 2020 No. 32 "On approval of sanitary and epidemiological rules and norms"
2. SanPiN 2.3 / 2.4.3590-20 "Sanitary and epidemiological requirements for the organization of public catering of the population" RF. But the corners owned by Parnik have only vegetarian dishes, so this law does not apply to us, which is also a plus.

In addition, the main supply issues are the carbon footprint and packaging. Often, products ordered from somewhere come wrapped in a million plastic boxes. I am especially struck by cases where some limes are sold in individual packaging. Why is she to them?

Therefore, the market earns another point. We put vegetables, herbal ingredients and everything else in our container.

We also try to use seasonal local products. In the summer, when there are fresh fruits, we make tinctures on them. And, of course, we freeze a lot of things so that we can use them in winter. For example, berries from the refrigerator. In order not to buy them, but at exorbitant prices, brought from abroad and leaving a carbon footprint.

Also, if we managed to get seasonal products inexpensively, we arrange one-time promotions. For example, a couple of years ago, some infernal amount of blackberries grew in my dacha: I collected 5 kilograms from one bush. And from it we made a tincture in the bar. It turned out several liters of gin on a country berry.

Observation: buy products in the market and use seasonal vegetables and fruits - cheaper, more environmentally friendly and more pleasant than ordering them from suppliers. And it also implies some unusual experiments with food, which is also cool and interesting!

Vegan bar and craft soda

The bar is already low on animal products. But to create some drinks, you still need milk, cream or eggs. We replaced all this and developed signature cocktails.

Their ideas belong to Ilya Pudov, my chef bartender. I practically did not participate in this, I only drank them (laughs). Ilya is a vegan, and he himself figured out how to replace ASF in cocktails.

For example, there is such a technology - clarified milk punch (clarified milk punch), when they bring you a completely transparent liquid and say: "It tastes like cognac and chocolate." You have a misunderstanding: “She looks like water!” You start drinking it, and it really tastes like cognac and chocolate.

In order to prepare such cocktail, you need to mix some acidic ingredients with milk. It will curdle and the cocktail can be strained through a filter, causing it to lose color and become clear.

Since we have a fully vegan bar, we do not use milk for this, but coconut cream. For example, we have milk punch pina colada. It turns out quite light and sets off with coconut - for my taste, it's great!

We also have our own sparkling water. Instead of ordering a huge number of bottles from some suppliers, we make it ourselves. To do this, there is a device Soda Stream.

Let's say for our variation of gin and tonic, we make our own blackcurrant tincture with rosemary and carbonated tonic. Of course, it differs from the purchased composition of herbs, but it's even better.

We also have a cool cocktail - Mushroom Picker's Dreams. It is similar to White Russian, but it uses vodka infused with porcini mushrooms, oat cream, nutmeg.

Observation: we have a unique bar list, and only in "Parnik" you can try such cocktails and tinctures! Plus, of course, these are vegan positions, which also contributes to the environment. And homemade soda reduces the purchase of a package. Of course, the alcohol itself comes in bottles, but this is glass, it can be easily recycled.

Using reusable tableware

All dishes in the restaurant are reusable. Despite the fact that this is a food court, we give visitors ceramic plates, metal spoons. We try to use reusable accessories ourselves. For example, restaurants often use plastic bags for vacuumization to save workpieces. Instead, we have ordinary containers.

98% of our turnover comes from orders at the restaurant. The rest is delivery, as well as the sale of food to go. People often come to us with their own containers - containers and flasks. And we can always pack food in them.

Greening delivery is, of course, more difficult. We had an experiment with returnable packaging - that is, when we sent a courier, he brought food in our containers, and then people returned them. But it was not very convenient.

Now we use dishes made of material that quickly decomposes. She costs crazy money. Sometimes it is cheaper to buy reusable plates than the same disposable, but biodegradable ones.

Therefore, to make sure that delivery is both cheap and environmentally friendly is not entirely realistic in our case. Justifies the fact that it is not very popular with us and brings a very small part of the income. In principle, we do not plan to develop it.

Observation: delivery is not cheap and not environmentally friendly, so it is irrelevant for us. Reusable tableware is more convenient and sometimes more economical than biodegradable.

Resource Saving

By law1. Decree of the Chief State Sanitary Doctor of the Russian Federation of October 27, 2020 No. 32 "On approval of sanitary and epidemiological rules and norms"
2. SanPiN 2.3 / 2.4.3590-20 "Sanitary and epidemiological requirements for the organization of public catering of the population"
3. Federal Law of June 24, 1998 No. 89-FZ "On production and consumption waste" restaurants cannot compost waste, because there is a rotting process, and this is incompatible with a catering establishment. But we have almost none of them. First, because we use freezing. Secondly, because we feed the employees.

Naturally, we do not give them damaged products! But, for example, if some scraps remain and we understand that we are unlikely to be able to use them in the near future, then we give them to prepare food for the staff. The restaurant is a rather non-waste story. And the garbage that can be stored on the territory - bottles, paper, plastic - we constantly hand over for recycling.

Also, we have reduced water consumption by 90% thanks to hydroponics in the city farm, as well as dishwashers. machines and touch panels in visitor washrooms to keep faucets from leaking when not in use. enjoy.

Electricity consumption has also become less due to professional equipment - refrigerators, stoves. We also use neon light, which is not only more economical and environmentally friendly, but also creates a special atmosphere!

Observation: saving leads to ecology.

People think that running a green business is expensive. This is not true. If you set the process correctly, then the introduction of many eco-practices will also bring big savings. Greenhouse is proof of this: thanks to green initiatives, we spend less money on food, water, and electricity.

A restaurant is initially not the most harmful space. Even the old classical establishments try to adhere to the concept of "zero waste". You just need to make the most of everything that is: cook broth from skins and bones, make cutlets from meat scraps, and sauce from shells. If you dig into the past, people lived ecologically because they saved money. We should get back to this.