Our community at Emmaus Village Carlton prides itself on championing sustainability by encouraging people to donate good quality. unwanted items so they can be repurposed and reused, rather than sent to landfill.
This saves tonnes of unnecessary waste every year and fulfils a growing demand for more eco-conscious ways of shopping. Every item donated and sold also helps us in our vital work; supporting homeless people with a place to live, employment and a brighter future.
This eco-conscious ethos is also at the forefront of our catering operations, from supplying our companions with balanced meals, to serving our customers in em’s Bistro with a varied menu. Our emphasis is on buying locally wherever possible.
Our Catering Manager, Simon Horrocks, talks about his continued quest to support the local economy and help our environment by sourcing from local suppliers.
Buying local
“We try to buy our supplies from as close to our doorstep as possible as this helps with the local economy, as well as reducing our carbon footprint which is so important.
“Our ice-cream is from the Riverside Dairy in Carlton, our eggs are from a farm in Pavenham, the next village along to Carlton, our coffee is from a company based in Milton Keynes and our milk is from a dairy in Wellingborough.
“We could source the milk maybe a little bit cheaper through our bigger wholesaler, but we try to keep it as local as much as we can.”
Homemade cakes
“Seventy-five per cent of the cakes we sell in em’s Bistro are made in-house by Tracy, a member of staff here who is a superb cook. We tend to buy our vegan and gluten-free cakes through a company that specialises in those, but everything else we produce in-house.
“Everything is made to order on the premises such as sandwiches and baguettes, and our sausages are from a butcher in Bedford called Lingers.
“Buying local has to work though – it wouldn’t work with a local supplier if they couldn’t keep up with demand, so it’s a balancing act to find the right suppliers who are as local as possible but can consistently meet our needs.”
Homegrown produce
“Our fruit and veg we get from Olney, for both companions and for em’s Bistro. We are trying to get more volunteer gardeners in order to grow our own produce in the community, so obviously we only produce a limited amount.
“But we try and split it between us. As some of the companions are involved in the growing, to actually have their homegrown produce in the companions’ kitchen is the priority, and then we’ll take some to em’s Bistro, if there’s any surplus.
“We’ve also had some bees introduced into the community so we’re hoping to get some honey from those. We currently have a lady in Carlton who provides us with local honey.
“At the end of the day, we’re a community here, so our priority is supporting the companions. From Wednesday to Sunday we are so busy in the bistro and our suppliers appreciate that we make a point of buying local, so they support our community in return.”
Independent suppliers
“Business is tough at the moment. Wholesalers are great but they’re not always the cheapest and the quality is not always there. So, it’s quite nice when you get the independents – they’re quite conscious of what they’re serving, conscientious about what they’re delivering, rather than focusing on just quantity.
“We build relationships with them and they keep us updated about any deals we can do with them, so it really works well. In terms of sustainability, we’ve got a food compost bin on order.
“We used to have one through our waste management company but we’re going to compost our own waste food in the future so that we can feed our garden, and then in turn, the garden will feed us.”
If you would like to find our more about em’s Bistro click here: https://emmaus.org.uk/village-carlton/ems-bistro/
If you’d like to volunteer as a gardener, or a number of other roles, please click here for more information: https://emmaus.org.uk/village-carlton/support-us/volunteer-with-us/