Good food has no class, let alone extra packaging! After graduating from Breakfast Institute in four years, garbage was reduced by 85%.

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In a small breakfast restaurant, the amount of garbage has been reduced by 85% in the past 4 years! In order to convey and practice the concept of environmental protection, two owners under the age of 30, Ah Wei and Lucia, run a breakfast restaurant called "Breakfast Research Institute" near the Chunghsiao Fuxing MRT Station in Taipei. In the spirit of cherishing things, reducing plastics, and not wasting, through sandwiches, they have successfully subverted the stereotype that the catering industry produces a lot of garbage.

The Breakfast Research Institute, which has been operating for four years, has been operating steadily, but it came to a perfect end on September 29th, and many loyal customers were very reluctant to give up. "in order to prove that opening a shop can also practice environmental protection, we did it, but we can't stop here!" Ah Wei and Lucia decided to go out of the store and go to Italy to learn to plant trees, reduce daily waste and go back to the source to help make resources for the earth.

Awei and Lucia never showed up when they ran the Breakfast Institute. They said, "showing up can get people wrong. I want people to focus on what we want to do instead of on us." Therefore, this interview also applies this principle (Photography / Lin Yijun)

"people use the earth's resources to make money, but no one wants to pay the earth."

Ah Wei, from the countryside of Pingtung, and Lucia, who lives in the city of Tainan, both graduated from the Department of Multimedia Animation Art at Taiwan University of Fine Arts. After watching the film "the Story of the East and the West" and "the plot documentary of the Light bulb," they were deeply impressed by the "contract of the Sun God" mentioned in the film, and reflected on the harm of "Fast Fashion" to the earth.

"people use the earth's resources to make money, and take it for granted, but no one wants to pay the earth." Ah Wei said, while Lucia on one side explained the Helios contract: "when the light bulb was first invented, all the materials were very durable, and then the manufacturers found that people bought new products too frequently, so they agreed to increase the damage rate after a certain period of time. This agreement is the Helios contract."

Under the guidance of manufacturers' interests, consumer habits have been changed, not only light bulbs, but also mobile phones from clothes to hands, all of which are "fast fashion" products of high-frequency replacement. When he was in college, Ah Wei began to think about practicing "business practices that take into account environmental protection." at this time, he also planted the seeds in his heart for opening a breakfast restaurant in the future.

Really good food doesn't need class, nor does it need extra packaging.

Ah Wei, who has no catering background and no huge capital, decided to start with the most approachable breakfast restaurant, and made a lot of preparations for this. "I don't have a catering background, and I don't dare to start a business rashly. At the beginning, I worked in a breakfast restaurant while taking animation or design projects." After leaving the army, Ah Wei went from working in a traditional breakfast shop to a new charcoal toast restaurant and even to a bakery at the raw material end as an unpaid apprenticeship.

Ah Wei later traveled to France and experienced the local food culture. "the French cuisine in the impression of luxury and long dining time is actually closer to the products left over by the kingship and aristocracy before the French Revolution." And anyone, regardless of class, can eat nutritious and natural prototype food, which is the pursuit of modern French diet: good food does not distinguish between occupation and class. "

Awei saw with her own eyes that French restaurants use fresh local ingredients to make simple but delicious cuisine, and even if guests take out, the packing materials are also quite simple. This gave him confidence that Taiwan would certainly be able to put it into practice, so after returning home, Lucia, who graduated from the same department and had similar ideas, started to run the Breakfast Research Institute.

There is a long way to go, there is no turning back when it begins.

In order to raise the capital to open a shop, Ah Wei took out a loan for the house in his hometown in Pingtung. While his mother supported him, she also said, "you must run it well." When we close down, we will have no place to live! " In order to save costs and practice the concept of environmental protection, most of the decoration in the store is decorated by Awei and Lucia, the tables and chairs are purchased second-hand furniture, and the decorations are old objects collected by two people.

Although in order to practice the concept of environmental protection, not many people appreciated it at the beginning. "just opened the shop, because the drinks for internal use did not provide straws and the food tasted too light, so they received an overwhelming number of negative reviews." The two bosses smiled bitterly as they recalled, using prototype foods, seasonings without artificial additives, drinks and simple packaging materials, which seemed out of place with many of their peers and were often ridiculed.

The metal fork used to secure sandwiches is also the result of many attempts by two bosses. They tried fruit forks and broke the toast. Later, I saw stainless steel barbecue forks in the kitchenware store and bought the right size according to the size of the sandwiches. Then we also saw that more and more sandwich shops followed suit. (photo courtesy of / Breakfast Institute)

"plastic reduction and garbage reduction do not achieve 100 points at the very beginning. We have made a lot of attempts." Lucia talked about the journey, changing the plastic cup holder of the beverage cup into a homemade cardboard cup holder, and the paper bag with sandwiches changed from PVC film on the inside to simple material. Even the garbage bags in the store have bought decomposable green bags.

"later, it was found that degradable environmental bags can only decompose under certain temperature and humidity. Under normal conditions, like ordinary plastic bags, they are not easy to decompose and cause many environmental problems." Not only can decompose environmental protection bags, 2 people found that many materials can no longer be fully used even if recycled, and then come to the conclusion: if you want to implement environmental protection, reducing quantity from the source is the most practical!

Garbage is indeed sorted and compressed, reducing 140 litres per month, saving money and keeping food waste from smelly.

The way for the two bosses to reduce garbage is very simple: "it is to classify the garbage and compress the volume of the same item."

Lucia said while demonstrating that five Tetra Pak milk cartons were flattened and put into another milk carton, which instantly reduced the volume to the original 1x6; the plastic packaging of food materials could be reduced to 1x5 of the original volume one by one.

"originally, there were at least seven litres of garbage a day, but we have to take out the trash once every two days, but now it is seven liters a week, just once every two weeks." Ah Wei is happy to say that in the case of special garbage bags in Taipei, a 14-liter garbage bag was originally used in two days, which was elongated to two weeks. based on an average of NT $5 per garbage bag, it only costs NT $10 a month for garbage bags, saving time waiting for the garbage truck.

Careful flattening of cartons can reduce space (Photo courtesy / Breakfast Institute)

In addition, Lucia also demonstrates how to deal with kitchen waste. They put the fascia after picking pork slices into the freezer and add the leftovers to the dishes they usually eat. They also thoroughly crush the eggshells that appear every day after washing and filtering water, and stack the boiled tea and broken eggshells layer by layer. "Tea has germicidal effect, so even if it is kept for a long time, the kitchen waste will not stink!" She said happily.

Tea leaves and eggshells are piled together to reduce garbage so that kitchen waste doesn't stink. (photo courtesy of / Breakfast Research Institute)

Non-plastic customers come to buy food with their own containers and shopping bags.

In addition to volume compression, Ah Wei and Lucia also bring their own shopping bags and containers when they buy food. "it's best not to use exquisite green bags, but the net bags used by vegetable vendors in the vegetable market." Lucia took out the red and yellow net bags he bought from the vegetable vendors, but the appearance was quite solid and durable.

"if you buy meat and pack it in a fresh-keeping box, you don't need to spend extra time to repack it when you come back." Ah Wei took out a stainless steel fresh-keeping box full of stainless steel. While collecting the ingredients, the two men said happily, "I rely on them to buy food every week. I never need to worry about breaking down or breaking down."

The two people's practice of environmental protection has also attracted many corresponding visitors, many of whom bring their own containers and food bags to support them, and some even come to eat sandwiches every day. "We are very happy to meet guests who share the same ideas. Their steady support allows us to move on." The child under one year old in a photo taken with a guest by the wall is a regular customer in the store and is now four years old.

Buy your own net bags and boxes for food (Photo courtesy / Breakfast Institute)

When the local fresh ingredients, hand-made, good taste of the original

"the food is to be fresh and affordable to everyone!" Considering the price and carbon mileage, the two people do not cling to high-grade and rare imported materials, but give priority to local agricultural products, while seasonings choose products that do not contain chemical additives and have qualified inspection. Ah Wei, who has worked in a bakery, chooses bread that has passed the national inspection manufacturer, while chicken, pig and beef choose raw meat made by two people.

All the sandwiches are made on site, and when the guests order, they will say, "you have to wait to make it now." When you give the sandwiches to the guests, don't forget to tell them, "be sure to eat them while they are fresh."

Mr. Chen Yuting, one of the regular customers, described: the sandwiches of the Breakfast Research Institute have an unadorned appearance, but the inner layers of meat and eggs plus sauces are very integrated and rich in layers. apart from being delicious, all the materials are traced back or made by hand, so they eat again and again. Also invite friends to come.

Garbage reduction is to increase revenue and reduce expenditure.

Lucia believes that take-out food and takeout are the largest sources of garbage every day. For breakfast restaurants, the actual cost savings are not only the purchase of garbage bags, but also a lot of time for sorting out garbage storage space and disposal time. The time saved is also part of the labor cost. More importantly, reducing garbage from the source will make it much more convenient for end-to-end recycling and transportation personnel to deal with.

"the operation over the past few years has made us understand the importance of 'increasing revenue and reducing expenditure'. Increasing revenue from open source is more difficult to achieve, but reducing expenditure can be achieved as long as we are willing to do so. Garbage reduction is a manifestation of environmental protection and cost reduction, and so is the concept of environmental protection. it is far easier to use existing resources cautiously than to exploit new ones." Two people talk while tidying up the storefront, all the tables and chairs in the store are bought by second-hand, and many of their personal belongings are either used for a long time or bought by second-hand.

Rest is to take a longer road, environmental protection can not stop.

"the learning process of the animation department has let us know that it takes the cooperation of everyone to make a change." the two people look forward to the record of this store opening practice, which will encourage other colleagues to try. "Don't be afraid of change, but practice telling guests why you do it and stick to it. It will naturally attract people who agree with you, and even change others."

Through their own practice, they think that environmental protection can improve the thorny problem of waste disposal cost in the catering industry. "at present, the pricing of products is not only based on food itself, but also on store rent, personnel, water, electricity, and packaging materials. Through environmental protection, a lot of costs can be saved and returned to consumers and the environment."

On September 29th, the last day of the Breakfast Research Institute, the regular guests came to see them off. Lucia and Ah Wei thanked the guests for their kindness. "as long as everyone takes a small step to change, the world still has a chance to change." Ah Wei and Lucia said with a smile, "I hope that by the time we return home to plant trees, plastic reduction has already become a trend in Taiwan!"