Good food needs no excess packaging: Breakfast Research Institute cuts waste by 85% in four years

A tiny breakfast shop has cut its waste by 85% over more than four years! Two owners under 30, A-Wei and Lucia, run a breakfast shop called "Breakfast Research Institute" near the Zhongxiao Fuxing MRT Station in Taipei, China, to convey and practice environmental ideals. With a spirit of cherishing resources, reducing plastic and not wasting, they have successfully overturned the stereotype of the restaurant industry generating massive amounts of garbage, one sandwich at a time.

After four years in business, Breakfast Research Institute was already on stable footing, yet it drew a perfect close on September 29. Many loyal customers were very reluctant to see it go. "We set out to prove that running a shop can also put environmental protection into practice. We did it, but we can't stop here!" A-Wei and Lucia decided to step out of the shop and go to Italy to learn about planting trees, returning from reducing daily waste to the source, and helping the Earth create resources.

"People use the Earth's resources to make money, but no one wants to pay the Earth."

A-Wei, from the countryside of Pingtung, and Lucia, who lives in the city of Tainan, both graduated from the Department of Multimedia and Animation Arts at National Taiwan University of Arts. During university, after watching the films "The Story of Stuff" and "The Light Bulb Conspiracy," they were deeply impressed by the "Phoebus cartel" mentioned in the films, and began to reflect on the harm "fast fashion" does to the Earth.

"People use the Earth's resources to make money, and take it for granted, but no one wants to pay the Earth." As A-Wei spoke, Lucia explained the Phoebus cartel: "When light bulbs were first invented, all the materials were very durable. Later, manufacturers found that people bought new products too infrequently, so they agreed together to make bulbs that would fail more often after a certain period of use. That agreement was the Phoebus cartel."

Under the profit orientation of manufacturers, consumption habits were changed. It is not just light bulbs; from the clothes on your body to the phone in your hand, all are "fast fashion" products replaced at high frequency. During university, A-Wei began to think about putting "business behavior that also takes environmental protection into account" into practice, and it was then that the seed of opening a breakfast shop in the future was planted in his heart.

Truly good food needs no class, and no excess packaging

With no restaurant background and no huge capital, A-Wei decided to start with the most down-to-earth entry point, a breakfast shop, and made many preparations for it. "I don't have a restaurant background, and I didn't dare start a business rashly. At first, I took on animation or design projects while working part-time at a breakfast shop." After finishing military service, A-Wei worked from traditional breakfast shops to new-style charcoal-grilled toast shops, and even did an unpaid apprenticeship at a bakery on the ingredient-supply side to learn.

Later, by chance, A-Wei traveled to France and experienced the local food culture. "French cuisine, which people imagine as luxurious with long dining times, is actually closer to a leftover product of the monarchy and aristocracy before the French Revolution. What modern French eating pursues is that anyone, regardless of class, can eat nutritious, natural whole foods: good food knows no profession and no class."

A-Wei saw with his own eyes that French restaurants used fresh local ingredients to make dishes that looked plain but tasted delicious, and even when customers took food away, the packaging was quite simple. This gave him confidence that it could surely be done in Taiwan, China too, so after returning home, he and Lucia, a graduate of the same department with similar ideas, began running "Breakfast Research Institute" together.

The long road of plastic reduction: once you start, there is no turning back

To raise capital for the shop, A-Wei took out a loan against the family home in Pingtung. His mother supported him while also nagging: "You'd better run it well! If the shop goes under, we'll have nowhere to live!" To save costs and put environmental ideals into practice, most of the shop's decor was installed by A-Wei and Lucia themselves, the tables and chairs were bought secondhand, and the decorations were old objects the two had collected.

Although it was all done to practice environmental ideals, at first not many people appreciated it. "Right after we opened, we got a flood of negative reviews because we didn't provide straws for drinks eaten in-store and the food tasted too bland." The two owners smiled bitterly as they recalled. Using whole foods, seasonings without artificial additives, drinks and simple packaging made them stand out awkwardly from many peers, and they were often mocked.

"Reducing plastic and cutting waste wasn't something we got perfect from the start. We made many attempts." Lucia talked about their journey. Along the way, they changed the plastic cup holders for drinks to homemade thick cardboard holders, switched the paper bags for takeout sandwiches from ones with an inner PVC coating to simple materials, and even once bought biodegradable eco-friendly bags for the shop's garbage.

"Later we found that biodegradable eco-friendly bags only decompose under specific temperature and humidity conditions. Under normal conditions they are just like ordinary plastic bags, hard to decompose and causing many environmental problems." It was not just biodegradable bags; the two found that many materials cannot be fully reused even if recycled. From this they concluded: to truly practice environmental protection, reducing waste at the source is the most practical approach!

Sorting and compacting trash properly cuts 140 liters a month, saves money, and keeps food waste from smelling

The two owners' method for reducing waste is very simple: "Just sort the trash properly and compress the volume of each type of item!"

As Lucia spoke, she demonstrated. After flattening five Tetra Pak milk cartons, she put them into another milk carton, instantly reducing the volume to 1/6 of the original; plastic packaging from ingredients could be pressed down one by one to 1/5 of its original volume.

"Originally we had at least 7 liters of trash a day and had to take out the garbage once every 2 days. Now it's 7 liters a week, and we only need to take it out once every 2 weeks." A-Wei said happily. With Taipei, China's designated garbage bags, they used to go through one 14-liter garbage bag every 2 days, stretched now to 2 weeks. At an average of 5 yuan per garbage bag, the bag cost is only 10 yuan a month, and it also saves the time spent waiting for the garbage truck.

In addition, Lucia also demonstrated how to handle food waste. They put the membrane left after trimming pork slices into a fresh-keeping box and freeze it, then add the leftovers to the dishes they normally eat. They also wash the eggshells that appear every day, drain them, crush them thoroughly, and layer used tea leaves and crushed eggshells alternately. "Tea leaves have a sterilizing effect, so even if left for a long time, the food waste won't smell!" she said happily.

Bringing your own containers and shopping bags when buying groceries: plastic-free customers come one after another

In addition to compressing volume, A-Wei and Lucia also bring their own shopping bags and containers when buying ingredients. "The most useful thing isn't some fancy eco-friendly bag, but the mesh bags the vegetable vendors at the market use for vegetables." Lucia took out the red and yellow mesh bags she had bought from vegetable vendors. They look plain but are quite sturdy and can bear heavy weight.

"When buying meat, we use a fresh-keeping box to hold it, and when we get back we don't need to spend extra time portioning it out." A-Wei took out a stainless steel fresh-keeping box packed full. As the two put away ingredients, they said delightedly: "We rely on these every week when buying ingredients. We never have to worry about them bursting or breaking."

The two's practice of environmental protection also attracted many like-minded customers. Many people came to support them with their own containers, food bags and so on, and some even came every day to eat sandwiches. "We're happy to meet customers who share our ideas. Their steady support lets us keep going." In a photo on the wall of the two with a customer, a child less than a year old was a regular at the shop; now he is already four years old.

Seasonal local fresh ingredients, handmade on the spot, the good taste of original flavor

"Food should be fresh and affordable for everyone!" Considering price and carbon mileage, the two did not insist on high-end, rare imported ingredients when choosing food, but gave priority to local agricultural products. For seasonings, they chose products without chemical additives and with qualified inspections. A-Wei, who had worked at a bakery, chose bread from a manufacturer that passed national inspection, and for chicken, pork and beef, they chose whole cuts of meat and made them entirely by hand.

All sandwiches are made on the spot. When customers order, the two always explain: "It's made fresh, so you'll have to wait." When handing the sandwich to the customer, they never forget to remind them: "Be sure to eat it while it's fresh!"

One regular customer, Mr. Chen Yuting, described it this way: the sandwiches at Breakfast Research Institute have a plain, unadorned appearance, but the inner layers of meat and egg plus sauce blend very well and are rich in layers. Besides being delicious, all the materials are traceable or handmade, so he keeps eating them again and again, and brings friends along too.

Cutting waste is both increasing income and reducing expenditure

Lucia believes that eating out and takeout are the biggest daily sources of garbage. For a breakfast shop, practicing environmental protection actually saves the most on the cost of buying garbage bags, and also saves a lot of space for storing and organizing trash and time spent handling it. The time saved is also part of labor cost, and more importantly, reducing waste at the source also makes it much easier for end-of-line recycling and collection workers to handle it.

"These years of running the shop have taught us the importance of 'increasing income and reducing expenditure.' Increasing income is harder to achieve, but reducing expenditure can definitely be done if you're willing. Cutting waste is a demonstration of both environmental protection and cost reduction. The same goes for the concept of environmental protection: using existing resources carefully is far easier than extracting new ones." As the two spoke, they tidied the shop. All the tables and chairs in the shop were bought secondhand, and many of the two's personal belongings were either long used or bought secondhand.

Resting is for walking a longer road; environmental protection cannot stop

"The learning process in the animation department taught us that bringing about change requires everyone's cooperation." The two hope that the record of this shop's practice can encourage other peers in the industry to try as well. "Don't be afraid of change, but practice telling customers why you do things this way, and keep at it. You will naturally attract people who agree with you, and you may even change others."

Through their own practice, they believe environmental protection can improve the restaurant industry's thorny problem of waste disposal costs. "Now product pricing isn't just about the food itself; you also have to consider rent, personnel, utilities, packaging materials and so on. Through environmental protection, a lot of costs can be saved and given back to consumers and the environment."

September 29 was the last day of business for Breakfast Research Institute. Regular customers who came to see them off enthusiastically showed their support. Lucia and A-Wei thanked the customers for their kindness. "As long as everyone takes one small step of change, the world still has a chance to change." A-Wei and Lucia said with a smile, "We hope that when we return home from planting trees, all of Taiwan, China will already have made plastic reduction a trend!"