Dining and sustainable nature tourism

Arranging meals at the beginning

When we started our business in 2010, we had to decide how to organize group meals in nature, especially in Repovesi National Park. We didn’t have our own kitchen where we could prepare meals. We asked our good partner for help. Our partner Kuutinkolo already had a long experience. They organized all our meals and coffee breaks by a campfire at the beginning. In this way, we got off to a nice start. However, the issue came up again the following summer. In the winter, we had decided to develop our services more towards sustainable tourism. This included solutions to remove disposable containers from everything we do. At the same time, we decided to procure coffee pots and other accessories to arrange catering services with our own staff if necessary.

Improving the quality of our service

In addition to responsible and sustainable tourism, our idea was to increase the quality of service. Lunches served in nature were then and nowadays primarily soups. So we needed durable cooking plates for the washing machine instead of disposable containers. There was, of course, a simple solution to this: typical ceramic plates. We had to find the dishes that we could package sensibly. After a bit of mediation, we had containers and stackable sealable packing boxes on them. Now things seemed to be going well, and that’s how a few years went by. Over the years, however, the group size has increased. So we got much more weight for transporting the plate boxes. One plate weighed about 0.6 kg, 40 plates with packages 25 kg. In Repovesi National Park we have to haul everything over water to near campfire place, so the weight is significant. We had to find a lighter solution for plates.

Finding a new solution for hot plates

We had to rethink the solution for the soup plates. Made of plastic are lighter, but not suitable for us. We had decided much earlier to reject plastic solutions in everything. This decision is part of our responsible and sustainable operations. In Finland, nice-looking tableware for nature hiking is made. Kupilka’s products are perhaps the best known of them. However, we had to reject them for two reasons. We could not package the cups tightly, so the size of the packages would have increased significantly. Another and even more significant was the raw materials of the product. The cups contain plastic. We did not want to compromise on our principles, so we rejected that solution.

We found a solution

After a long search, we found a solution. We now have light and tightly packed soup plates made of bamboo. They are machine washable and do not contain a drop of plastic. Besides, our soup cups work better in nature than our ceramic plates. The soup does not spill over the edge, and the container does not get broken even if you happen to drop it on a rock. Our customers have also been happy and satisfied to learn the story of our soup cups. In addition to lightness, we now also get smaller packages. Earlier, we had ten plates in the same box where we have twenty soup cups now. In addition, the old transport box happened to be just right for our new cups. The packed box is neither loose nor rattling, so it is carefree to handle. Next, we’ll tell a small story about our wooden flat plates. We told you about coffee cups before. Waiting for spring Eero Repovesikeskus