Interview

Paşabahçe

Paşabahçe

Riding the green wave

Along with being a chef, a designer and an innovator working with companies such as Bonna and Paşabahçe – Jesper Efferbach, founder of Jeff&Co Group – is passionate about green living. He talks to HoReCa about how his company is uniting the hospitality sector with sustainability...

Jesper, while your job history and experience in the tabletop/ hospitality industry is vast, your current direction – sustainability – is really of interest. Explain a little about what you do and why it’s of importance to the sector. My company operates in three areas – firstly, there is the original consultancy where we mainly work as consultants for producers of table and kitchenware, FMCG as well as hotel and restaurant chains all over the world. Our focus here are distribution and sales optimisation, supply chain efficiency, sustainability, commercial training and education. Next, we work in product design and development where we mainly work with the design and development of tableware products in both glass, porcelain and stoneware – a few of the products we have worked with are Timeless, Elysia and Tincan glasses for Paşabahçe which have all sold in more than 40 million pieces. And finally, we work in innovation where our main focus is sustainability, social responsibility and circular economy. Among the projects that we have made are the development of a new sustainable restaurant concept for a very large Nordic hotel chain, been part of launching a 100 per cent circular brewery in Denmark (brewing beer from surplus food from restaurant kitchens), concept development for machine production with recycled glass and other raw materials, as well as our own environmentally friendly, sustainable and 100 per cent biodegradable plant-based raw material project.

Tell us about your work with tableware brands/factories – how vital is it for companies in 2022 to develop and implement sustainable concepts and productions methods? We work and have worked with companies like Paşabahçe glass, Costa Verde porcelain, Bonna Porcelain, ArdaCam glass, Revol Porcelain, Corelle Brands, Pillivuit, Durobor Glass, Costa Nova and Grestel ceramics, Kitchenaid, Carlsberg, Nestlé, Scandic hotels, Hilton hotels. In short you can say that the demands on the entire table and kitchenware industry in many ways are changing rapidly. In the past, it was to a large extent a matter of being able to supply the best priced and best looking products no matter where or how the products was produced. Now, it’s a completely different matter, now the brands and end users

Did you know?

Jesper points out that more and more companies are becoming aware of the fact that the development and implementation of sustainable and environmental-friendly measures – when handled in the proper way – can be used as profit and margin increasing measures.

are looking much more at added value, CO2 and carbon footprint, sustainability, environment friendly production and supply chain, local production and lead times as well as product training and education. In short, the manufacturers of today have to add value to the “food-chain” in a completely different way than they had to just five or 10 years ago.

In real terms, what sort of changes can tableware/ glassware companies make – packaging, off-setting fuel and production output? There are numerous ways that all of us in the industry can make both small and larger changes, this goes for both the actual production with water and garbage waste, minimising of packaging and/or using recycled or reused materials, the usage of as many reused or recycled raw materials in the actual production, longer production runs, producing close to your core markets and even optimising the transportation of your final products, as well as using low carbon footprint forwarders when it comes to land, sea and air transportation.

Likewise, you also work with hospitality venues supporting the development and implementation of sustainable concepts in their operation – how are venues becoming more sustainable? In general, the foodservice industry has been part of this

Revol “movement” all the way from the beginning. I remember as a young chef apprentice learning about low waste cooking and the usage of as much of the raw materials as possible, the importance of using local products and raw materials in season. This means that the “green and sustainable” mindset is not foreign to the industry and in most cases they welcome products in recycled materials like textiles, glass, porcelain, in their decoration and tableware. They also welcome the idea of organic and circular food and drinkware like beer brewed on surplus food from the kitchens, bread baked with surplus food – and because most food and drink trends are now coming from the professionals in the foodservice industry, the general public are also becoming more and more aware and open to this. Last but not least, and maybe as one of the most important points, more and more companies are becoming aware of the fact that the development and implementation of sustainable and environmental-friendly measures in many cases – when handled in the proper way – can be used as profit and margin increasing measures. In terms of buying tabletop product, how important is sustainability to the general public, is your opinion? It is growing day by day, even right now with impact of the ongoing conflict in Ukraine and the fact that we still see a huge impact of the global Covid pandemic. The focus on sustainability and environmental friendliness in general is growing, and both the general business industry and governments all over the word are investing heavily in these areas. This also goes for the general public where more and more consumers are choosing both food and non-food products based on their CO2 and carbon footprint as well as their sustainability, and ability to be recycled or reused.

Do you think there is a real and tangible desire for the homewares and F&B industry to make considered and lasting changes to their production practices? I am pretty sure that almost all manufacturers have the will and intention to implement this but it’s actually no longer up to the individual manufacturer to make this decision. If a manufacturer wants to sell and market their Did you know? products globally, they must have a clear sustainability strategy and preferably a clear Jesper says more and more green profile. In the past, and in the near governments are developing and future, we will experience enforcing green taxes on the CO2 more and more governments developing and enforcing green emissions and carbon footprints of taxes on the CO2 emissions and carbon footprint of all companies companies. – this includes their suppliers. We are already seeing more and more companies choosing partners and suppliers (this includes the restaurants that they are dining at, the hotels that they are staying at as well how they arrange their transportation) according to the green profiles and strategies of the companies. This also mean that the smart companies and operators see this “green wave” as a sales and “Manufacturers of today have marketing tool to in the long run increase their margin and profit to add value to the “food- an not as a pure expense. chain” in a completely different So bottom line is that it’s not a matter of if they choose to make way than they had to just five the changes, it’s a matter of when they have to make them.

or 10 years ago” www.jeffco.dk

Paşabahçe Paşabahçe

“If a manufacturer wants to sell and market their products globally, they must have a clear sustainability strategy and preferably a clear green profile”