Wandering Cooks

Background

Founded by Angela Hirst, Wandering Cooks is an innovative Brisbane business that provides clients short-term access to commercial kitchens and long-term access to marketing and business support services.

Wandering Cooks clients include market-stall operators, boutique bakers and space-challenged cafes that don’t have room for a kitchen.

Challenge

Like most foodies, Angela hates to see food offcuts sent to the landfill where it rots away, generating methane which is at least 20 times more potent than CO2 as a greenhouse gas.

Wandering Cook clients make a wide variety of goods on site, involving products that traditional composting couldn’t handle - like meat, seafood, citrus and onions. So Angela went searching for an alternative solution.

Wandering Cooks is a new business with a promising outlook. In addition to the commercial kitchen hire, Angela runs food information seminars and has plans to establish a weekly food market. Angela needed a solution that would service the initial needs of the business and flourish together.

Needed a compost solution that could handle meat, seafood, citrus and onions.

Solution

After thorough consultation about current and future business projection, Closed Loop installed a small processing unit with the option to upgrade to a larger unit as Wandering Cooks grows.

Closed Loop takes a partnership approach with businesses using its products. Most materials that go to landfill are useful. We want to divert as much material as possible from landfill by working with businesses to use better packaging materials so we can collect and recycle greater volumes and process organics into a rich soil conditioner that can be used to grow delicious, locally-grown produce.

The Result

By using the Closed Loop Organics unit, Wandering Cooks are already diverting around 100kg of food waste from landfill each week and this figure will grow as the business expands.

Issues of odour and pests associated with disposal of food waste have been avoided and Angela can happily boast a truly sustainable business.

Angela is currently using the material produced by the organics unit to feed the hundreds of herb pots she has on-site. The Wandering Cooks garden beds are expanding as a result of the rich soil conditioner produced by the Closed Loop unit.

“I feed my hundreds of herb pots with a mix of the Closed Loop output and potting mix. The plants love it and my clients comment on how soothing it is to be surrounded by the sight and smell of the herbs”.

“My clients are intrigued by the Closed Loop system and I’ve even started selling home units to them.”