An Interview with Le Super Qualité
CP3 volunteers, Anna and Priya, sat down for a virtual interview with Jennifer, from Le Super Qualité, a snack bar serving Indian food in Montreal’s Rosemont neighbourhood. Read this interview to find out how they operate a sustainable business with reusable takeout containers!
Anna: What alternatives to plastic do you use in the restaurant?
Jennifer: Since we opened the restaurant about 4 years ago, we started using the metal lunch box alternatives which we saw being used a lot in Asia and India. We had a catering company before we opened the restaurant, and we’re using these metal boxes to package the catering. As soon as we opened the restaurant we just kind of continued along with that same system! Le Super Qualité wasn’t interested in just being another company that was contributing to all that waste- so we’ve been using the metal reusable lunch boxes from the get-go. Our customers love them, and we love them!
Anna: How exactly does using the metal container work?
Jennifer: Every customer that calls in, we ask them if they want to use this alternative takeout option! We asked for a $20 deposit and they just have to keep their bill all we ask for is a $20 deposit and when they return the container, they are reimbursed the $20, it's just as easy as that! If a customer doesn't wish to use the mental take out container, we use fibrous compostable containers.
Priya: How many of your restaurant customers do you think opt for the metal container instead of the single-use compostable container?
Jennifer: a lot, especially regular customers who live in the neighbourhood! Often they know that they’re going to be passing by at some point, so they just keep it at home until the next time they come for a meal! Number wise, It's over 50%, I can say that easily!
Priya: How has covid affected your ability to go plastic-free?
Jennifer: For a while during the pandemic, we weren’t taking the containers back, we just weren't sure about the risk involved. We didn’t want anybody feeling weird about it, or having our employees having to handle them in the dishwasher… and all this kind of stuff, we just weren't sure about the risks. But now, we do take the containers back, and we've gotten to a point where it's pretty safe. We take them in and it goes right to the dish pit, and there's no risk there.
Anna: That’s great! I remember at first when the pandemic started, some companies like Starbucks, I would normally take my reusable cup to put coffee in! Then starting in March, maybe, they were just like, no more mugs! We have to use plastic everything! What was your alternative for your metal takeout containers at first? Was it the single-use compostable containers?
Jennifer: Yeah that’s exactly what we were doing. We, like everyone else, didn’t know what to do, we were frozen! But now we’re definitely at a point where we can manage using the reusable containers.
Priya: What does composting look like in your restaurant?
Jennifer: We’re in Rosemont, and that they only collect the garbage once a week, so we learned pretty quickly that we had to get into the compost game! We’ve been composting since the beginning, and there’s so much compost it’s crazy! We get all our composting done through the city.
Priya: Were there any particular struggles you felt when you were first entering the restaurant business and trying to be more sustainable? or was it a pretty easy transition from catering to catering + a storefront for you guys?
Jennifer: The transition was overall fast & easy! We were doing catering for almost 4 years before we opened our restaurant, so we were super familiar with the reusable lunch boxes already. We also had to get our customers familiar with the reusable takeout system. It’s new for a lot of people, especially around here! People really don’t see that a lot of these kinds of reusable container systems, so sometimes people are a little bit shocked when you ask them to put down a $20 deposit, but once they do it a few times they get it!
In the beginning, we thought the cost of our containers may be a barrier, but no, it’s panning out to not be an issue.
The only thing that bothers me is that we can’t put more of our meals in the reusable boxes, we only put the thali meal. You can’t really put a hamburger in them, because they aren’t built for foods like that. It’s a four-tiered format so there are only so many things you can do with it.
Anna: What do you think are the barriers for other restaurants not using the lunchbox?
Jennifer: I don’t know! I wish more restaurants would come around and use them! It is an investment to buy them all in the beginning and it does take a lot of planning to design a meal where everything will fit in this container. But it’s not rocket science, if you wanna make it happen, you’re gonna make it happen!
Anna: It seems like there has been a lot of planning and a lot of thought that went into these containers, why is it so important to you to have your business be able to offer these reusable lunch boxes to the Montreal community?
Jennifer: I wanted to be able to have a business that wasn’t contributing to this enormous problem of waste. It was the most important thing not to take part in plastic takeout containers or anything like that. I’ve had a pretty strong feeling about it since the beginning. Let alone how cool the takeout containers look, they also keep your food warm and are super practical for so many reasons!
Priya: It’s really awesome you started the company with sustainability as a core value and you’ve been able to keep that value.
Jennifer: Yes! But it is hard, in the restaurant business there’s so much waste, I mean it’s just overwhelming in so many aspects. All we can do is try to do our best in the ways that we can. For insurance, we can’t help it when our suppliers package food in little containers sometimes. It seems like an endless struggle, but at least we know that we’re having some positive effect in someway
Anna: I feel like people in Montreal are generally environmentally conscious and are willing to take that extra step to go for the reusable container instead of the more wasteful container. Do you think your takeout container program has been so successful, because of Montreal's strong incline toward sustainability?
Jennifer: A lot of the times when I offer the people the lunchbox, and they say no, it's because they live so far away. I would love to know where my customers who purchased their meals in the reusable boxes all live, but I have a feeling they live in the neighbourhood! It's definitely a community feeling - a feeling that promotes the convenience of swinging back tomorrow or on their way home from work and returning the container - that I think has made it so successful.
Priya: Does anybody end up bringing their own container from home if it's not convenient for them to return the metal container?
Jennifer: Yeah people do that for sure! A lot of people bring yogurt containers - whatever they have at home - some people bring huge shopping bags filled with their empty tupperware containers and ask for all their food to go in it! And that's fine, we can do that too!
Anna: Along with composting, do you also participate in any recycling programs at the restaurant?
Jennifer: Yes just the regular recycling with the city, they pick up our recycling once a week.
Anna: Do you find that you have to do anything special to the recycling, like going through it and washing out the containers? I ask because another part of our project with CP3 is talking to recycling plants and learning about what they can recycle, what they can't recycle, what they struggle the most with. So I’m wondering what that looks like on the business end - are you asked to do anything special with the recycling that you have?
Jennifer: We do rinse our recycling out, and we separate the plastic from the metal - which no one asked us to but from what we notice its two different teams that come to pick it up. But aside from that I wouldn't say we're doing anything special.
We have a lot of recycling though - it's crazy. This is what I was telling you before, I can feel good that we're using the reusable lunch boxes but there’s just so much waste it’s just unbelievable sometimes! Our whole curbside is often lined up with stacks of empty boxes waiting to be picked up.
Priya: Where would you say that the majority of that waste is coming from? Where is the problem area for you guys? Where in the whole business setup, are plastic and waste really hard to avoid?
Jennifer: In terms of the takeout containers, I’ve gotten it down to almost using no plastic, except for the little, 1.4 ounce plastic sauce containers. We haven't been able to find another alternative with that specifically.
Priya: And what about on the non consumer side? Is most of your recycling from bulk orders Where is the majority of non consumer waste comes from? What about the bulk non consumer waste for businesses in general?
Jennifer: Empty plastic oil containers and yogurt containers is something that comes to mind. Most of it is what we get from our suppliers that we don’t have a choice regarding how they package and bring it to us. Here's a good example, I got a case of cucumbers today, and they’re all individually wrapped in plastic! I’m guessing there’s a reason for that, like maybe it keeps the self life a little bit longer... I have no idea but it drives me crazy!
Priya: That's something i've really always wondered about because it's always specifically cucumbers that are individually wrapped! When I went to the Netherlands and saw that they did not individually wrap cucumbers - I was so surprised - because I decided in my head cucumbers would just go bad if they were not individually wrapped!
Jennifer: And it’s always English cucumbers! If I get a different type of cucumber it's never wrapped in plastic.
Priya: Do you try to not buy English cucumbers? Or is this something you consider essential?
Jennifer: This is a tough one. If I switch to a different type of cucumber this might affect the food quality. Another cucumber could have thicker skin or be more bitter and that could totally change the flavor of the dish.
Anna: What about waste in terms of food? How do you combat wasting food at the end of the night?
Jennifer: We have been working on this problem since day one. There’s only so many predictions you can accurately make when you’re running a restaurant. You do your best - but there’s always gonna be a bit of food waste. Whether this is at the end of the night or at the end of the lifespan of that particular cooked food. Employees are welcome to take home as much food as they want, if it’s a matter of it going in the waste or to their homes! We have a lot of employees who bring food home for their neighbors and stuff like that, so like we’re very okay with stopping food waste in this way, we prefer someone eats it than nobody obviously! There’s also a couple companies that will come and pick up food the day of and distribute it to different shelters in the city, so we do that. We try to pass it along!
Anna: We were wondering, if you could tell other Montreal businesses one thing about sustainability, maybe about using metal containers or reducing their waste, what would you let them know?
Jennifer: I don’t know! I don’t feel like I am doing anything fantastic or special or different than anyone else. I just feel strongly about using the least amount of plastic possible.
Priya: I think that's interesting in itself! The fact that there's no grand piece of advice that is needed, really goes to show that having a sustainable business or making your business sustainable is something a lot of people can do. You don’t need to be grand, or perfect, or have a lot of money or time, to do something good for the planet.
