Park kiosk wins sustainable business award

A kiosk at Umina Oval has won an award for being the Central Coast's most sustainable business.

Jasmine Greens Park Kiosk beat Gosford's Don't Have Time at the 2017 Central Coast Business Excellence Awards to claim the title at the awards evening held at the Crowne Plaza Terrigal for the second time.

Kiosk owner Ms Gabby Greyem said it was an honour for her and the Jasmine Greens team to be named the greenest business on the Central Coast.

"Established in 2004, as an organic cafe purveyor and delicatessen, Jasmine Greens' food philosophy is all about celebrating delicious food while nurturing our health and the health of the planet," Ms Greyem said.

"The focus at Jasmine Greens has always been about developing and promoting a culture of sustainable business, both socially and environmentally.

"We take enormous care when sourcing all of our products to ensure we make the least impact on the environment and that we support local famers and producers to keep on doing what they do best; and we can trace just about every food ingredient in our kitchen to the farm gate and we're proud of the fresh, high quality ingredients we serve," she said.

Jasmine Greens is split between a dine-in restaurant and a takeaway kiosk which Ms Greyem said presented its own unique opportunities to pursue ecofriendly, socially sustainable business.

"Since we opened we have always strived to deliver fresh, wholesome locally sourced produce to the Peninsula.

"We brew Mecca coffee, sourced for its sustainable farming and fair trade practices.

"All our meats are free-range, chemical-free and hormone free.

"Our bacon is locally and lovingly hand smoked, nitrate free, chemical free and gluten-free.

"Our eggs come from a local free range farm," Ms Greyem continued.

"Our seafood is chosen for its sustainable listing in Australia's Sustainable Fishing Guide and wherever possible, we source locally harvested seafood including local oysters, prawns and black fish.

"Our kitchen is GMO free and our deep fryer oil is high in omega and low in saturated fats.

"The haloumi on our famous haloumi burgers is made locally by multi-award winning Little Creek Cheese.

"Our mushrooms are grown locally by Margin's Mushrooms.

"Our tofu and soy milk is organic.

"We work closely with Rosnay Organic vineyard and are proud to showcase their organic, preservative-free and vegan friendly wines on our wine list," Ms Greyem said.

Since perfecting their menu, Ms Greyem said Jasmine Greens had continued to build its foundation as a sustainable business through the creation of local jobs and by endeavouring to perform the best green business practice possible.

According to Ms Greyem, Jasmine Greens recycles at least 5000 tonnes of waste a year and aims to keep waste to a minimum.

"A big focus of ours has been incorporating the most sustainable packaging into our kiosk as possible.

"All of our packaging is now made from 100 per cent recycled materials, is compostable and biodegradable.

"People are becoming increasingly more aware of the huge impact takeaway packaging has on the environment and we want to make sure that we are contributing as little as possible to that impact, so we are supplying the best possible environmentally friendly packaging we can," Ms Greyem said.

Ms Greyem also said reducing Jasmine Greens' carbon footprint was another sustainable initiative the business had been striving to achieve, with Ms Greyem entering an agreement with Council to have 100 solar panels installed on site with the hope of reducing their carbon footprint to zero.

"I've always been a bit of an ecowarrior and starting Jasmine Greens was my way to think global and act local," Ms Greyem said.

The win at the Central Coast Excellence in Business Awards sees Jasmine Greens nominated for the Excellence in Sustainability category at the NSW Business Chamber Awards in November.

SOURCES:

Interview and website, 30 Aug 2017

Gabby Greyem, Jasmine Greens

Reporter: Dilon Luke