Thirsty Thursday Highlights Eggsentric Café’s Eco-Ethos

The sun shone brightly on customers at Eggsentric Café last week when waste minimisation group  Wāhi Tukurua held its latest Thirsty Thursday event promoting the move away from  single-use-cups.

Eggsentric Café operators Sam Fowell and Rachel Saunders offered free cake and coffee along with entry into a prize draw to incentivise people to either sit in or bring their own reusable cup. They now hope people will continue to question using the plastic-lined throw-away options and ask themselves – ‘Where does my rubbish go when I’m finished with it?’ 

Sam was a shy 8-year-old when Eggsentric Café first opened in 1998. His dad, Dave Fowell, held the reigns of the unique eatery for over a decade, mixing music and art with great food and a quirky alternative vibe.

Sam took over the business in 2015 and meeting Rachel helped galvanise his awareness around the importance of conservation, endorsing healthy environmental habits along with healthy food. 

Eggsentric was an early user of sustainably sourced products and in 2011 the café won the Good Egg award.

Sam says he is a strong advocate of ‘make-it-from-scratch’ food and avoids packaged ingredients as much as possible.

‘We use organic milk, free range eggs, grass fed meat – we don’t cut on costs in that area.” 

Sam says that in recent years a lot of customers ask for gluten free, dairy free, low sugar options. Now he wants people to think about ‘waste free’ and consider the planet’s health along with their own.

Offering a mug library for travellers who have forgotten their keep-cup was one of the first moves Eggsentric Café made to reduce waste, along with charging extra for coffees being handed over in a throw away cup and discounts for those bringing their own reusable. 

Eggsentric were quick to get onboard with Chunky Cups when the option was offered to them, meaning people could avoid single-use cups by either ‘hiring’ a cup for a refundable $10 or hooking into the swap a cup system with participating cafes.

Sam and Rachel’s message is simple. “Go for waste-free!’ ‘Don’t use take-away cups and straws – just don’t!”