Manifesto

At Restaurant Vrå, we have high ambitions. We want to show you that is is possible to run a sustainable restaurant from an overall perspective. It doesn’t just com down to raw materials, climate impact, cleaning materials, waste sorting and local circular food systems, where we make sustainable choices every day in a concrete way in the business. It is also to drive sustainable development in social issues such as gender equality, equality in the restaurant industry and society. We are innovators leading the process of developing a modern sustainable restaurant industry.

We have chosen to follow nature instead of trying to tame it. Our vegetables are the ones in season from local farmers and the fish comes from sustainable sources. The menu will vary from day to day, depending on what the season and our nature will provide us with. 

Working uncompromisingly in this way requires active choices every day. As a result, in recent years, we have worked on a number of projects. Some of which we have come to continue with on a daily basis.

Zero Tolerance 

We have a zero tolerance against sexism, racism, homophobia and transphobia. This is something we actively work on to maintain every day by educating our team but also by having the staff fill in an anonymous questionnaire every two weeks regarding their work situation.

Odlingsbolaget Svalan & Bokashi 

We are running an organic rooftop farm with the farmer collective Odlingsbolaget Svalan on the 4th floor of the hotel. One of the innovative circular systems we have developed together is to ferment and compost our food waste from the kitchen with the bokashi method. This system allows the team at Svalan to pick up our waste and put it back as nutrition and soil on the rooftop farm. A local circular sustainable system that turned tons of food waste into new vegetables without leaving the hotel. 

Upscaling 

An important question for us is how to optimize all parts of every product that comes into the restaurant. These days our non alcoholic pairing and cocktails are based on leftovers from the kitchen such as pear cores, dill stems, apple skin etc. After the infusions or syrups are set and strained, we use these leftovers to infuse spirits with for future cocktails. 

Vrå x Reframing 

This is a project and community initiated and run by Sofia B Olsson, Operations Manager at Restaurant Vrå, that aims to drive the development of a sustainable restaurant industry. By inviting innovative female profiles in the creative industries to cocreate and collaborate we have seen innovation and new thinking come to life in incredible ways. 

Vrå x Reframing - Emelie Höcks & Carolina Härdh 

The very first of these projects was to make use of food waste in the form of outer shells, kelp and rinse water from rice. This was saved and upscaled into its new format by the designers Emelie Höcks and Carolina Härdh who designed a stool and a bench for the restaurant using only these products. For us a clear example of how to create a local, sustainable circular system that shows potential in food waste on a new level. 

Vrå x Reframing - Framtidens Krogkultur 

Sofia B Olsson was initiating the Metoo call #härtardetslut. As a result of the community that was created through this she used Vrå x Reframing to start the association Framtidens Krogkultur, to actually enable change. The association initially focuses on concrete initiatives around equality in work environment, education and leadership in the restaurant industry. 

Vrå x Reframing - Mothers in Residence 

Mothers in residence is an association for mothers in artistry. Together with them we created a day with a workshop and dinner to learn from each other’s experiences and discuss questions like “How can we combine motherhood, self employment and creativity?” “Can we share experiences/challenges/solutions and find a sustainable development and collaboration within this shared community?”

Scary Seafood Project 

Sofia invited fellow chefs to a gastronomic workshop on the preparation of unused raw materials from the sea together with researchers from the University of Gothenburg focusing on new species in our oceans with their possibilities and limitations. 

Sustainable innovator of the year 

Sofia B Olsson and Lotta Klemming are pioneers when it comes to using the Pacific oyster that grows in Sweden for commercial purposes. Vrå received the award “Sustainable innovator of the year” in 2018, due to the eye opening work they did. Vrå was the first restaurant in Sweden to serve these invasive oysters and created a trend throughout Sweden that provided countless jobs, reduced transport and improved marine environment.

Electricity 

Our electricity is 100% renewable and comes from green energy. We also use district heating and district cooling and have a collaboration with Gothenburg Energy by providing the garbage that arises for combustion for new energy. The lightning goes on a time loop with means that when the restaurant is not open and in the middle of the they there is not as much power in our lamp as it is in the evening.

Water 

We use ultra clean water and ozone water instead of chemical cleaning agents. All the non used water from carafes in our dining room is saved to wash our floor after each service.