Stories from the frontline
Cafe owners, Managers and front-of-house teams share their learns.
Read EXCERPTS from a collection of stories to share others’ journeys of change. TheSE are stories of inspiration & practical details. Download the full stories by completing the form below.
From integrated to 100%.
Fast, and seamless.
Pembroke Patisserie
Iconic Wanaka cafe, Pembroke Patisserie’s owner, Kirsty Schmutsch, jumped at the opportunity to participate in the Wanaka launch of Again Again’s network. Initially, Pembroke integrated Again Again with their existing sit-in, BYO and Single-Use Cups offer; shifting to 100% Again Again for takeaways within two months, and in the middle of the busy summer season.
Pembroke discovered it was far easier to have Again Again as the only takeaway vessel option, alongside BYO or sit-in, compared with previously integrating it alongside a SUC takeaway offer.
“‘Throwaway cup-free’ is a throwaway statement. With Again Again that lofty goal became realistic and within reach.”
The 100% Campus
Lincoln University in Canterbury is the first university campus in Aotearoa New Zealand to implement 100% Again Again reusables campus-wide.
Lincoln was sympathetic to the voices of a loud minority pushing for the removal of single-use cups (SUCs) and other avoidable single-use items including plastics. However Lincoln University Catering Services operates a complex food & beverage operation across three campus venues, providing food & beverage services to a campus audience of around 3300 students and staff, as well as onsite and offsite events and conferences. The desire to walk the sustainability walk required an operable-at-scale and cost-effective system.
“We were only willing to entertain solutions that had a high certainty of working out-of-the-box, that were market-tested in the retail sector, and with a relatively low cost of entry to, and beyond launch.”
The SUC-Free Region
WANAKA: Single use cup free by 2022
Single Use Cup-free (SUC-free) Wanaka is a campaign by the community of Wanaka, for the community of Wanaka. They have pledged to make their beautiful region free of the scourge that is single-use cups by 2022.
A passionate group of hospitality professionals worked together to get SUCfree Wanaka off the ground to tackle the issue as a region. The Sit, BYO, or borrow mantra has been adopted widely, with 8 cafes launching the Again Again system in November 2019 to support the borrow option. In February 2020 there were a total of 14 cafes in the system, five of which have ditched single use cups altogether. Cafes in Queenstown, Te Anau, Glenorchy and beyond are now joining the reuse revolution to #ditchthedisposables.
“SUC-free Wanaka is about making Wanaka single-use cup free; it is about giving people better options: Sit, BYO, or borrow. It is about making it easier for people to change.”
The 100% Attraction & Venue
Auckland Zoo
The central city Zoo, as a wildlife conservation organisation, were dismayed by the sheer amount of their single-use takeaway cup waste. They wanted a solution that would reduce the number of single-use takeaway cups used, without compromising the visitor experience or the financial sustainability of their cafes.
In July 2019, they moved all five of its hospitality venues to 100% single-use cup free from the get go. As estimated 160,000 cups are rescued from going to landfill each year, and the zoo benefits from $50,000 in consumable cost savings in comparison to the year prior.
“We moved to 100% Again Again and it has been so much easier, with so much less need for front of house staff to have to explain the why.”
“While our coffee cups were 100% commercially compostable, they still required energy and resources to create. In addition, despite our best efforts and that of our waste supplier and compost centre, our audits revealed we had compostable cups ending up in landfill. Again Again has provided us with a really great solution. It’s another small step in helping us put our best (& lowest carbon) foot forward.”
The Independent
Anne Fern Coffee Shop, Hamilton
Aware of climate change and the effects of global heating, owners Cilla and Grace wanted to ensure their cafe was as sustainable as possible, to live by their ethos, balancing business and social responsibility. Before joining Again Again, their cafe had already eliminated plastic milk bottles, moving to a reusable glass milk supplier from Raglan. They encourage all of their customers to bring in personal plates or mugs, and default customers to a “no lid” takeaway option (customers can choose to take a lid, but many do not; instant sustainability win). However, they were still looking for a way to reduce the volume of single-use takeaway cup waste being produced.
To do this, they explored a few options, but many relied on plastic cups. For them, the idea of bringing more plastic into the world to solve an issue created by plastic defeated the purpose. Once they discovered Again Again, everything fell into place. The system made sense, nothing like it existed in Hamilton yet, and they wanted to be the cafe to lead it.
“It hasn’t been difficult. First, we were worried about how much work it would involve, but it is a pleasure. Customers really like the “neat” factor.”
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