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Circular Kitchens - Whitstable
About Circular Kitchens
Circular Kitchens is a not for profit social enterprise designed to help all our kitchens in the UK become Circular Kitchen:
Our framework recognises the practical challenges and in some cases impossibilities of becoming completely plastic-free, ecological, local and zero waste for most household kitchens. In fact it seems easier to become a Circular Kitchen if you are a restaurant than if you are a kitchen at home. Why?
Because a restaurant chef is in the habit of buying fresh produce and cooking every day. Many households have chosen to save time by not cooking everyday and instead heating ready-made meals, which is fantastic. Our dream is to know that every pre-cooked meal sold in the UK aligns woth the four principkles of a Circular Kitchen.
I do believe that this food revolution which has been brewing since the 1960s and 1970s,
It’s a demanding and exhausting job that deserves everyone’s respect; a chef nourishes our souls when the food is local, ecological and plastic-free/zero waste.
. and is continuously developing knowledge, guidance and tools including the Circular Kitchens Marketplace.
Our sustainable marketplace is currently under research & development. We plan to launch it in 3 months this summer 2025, offering access to our 10 Founding Members establishments in Whitstable, the food retailers (grocers, butchers and farm enterprises that deliver in Whitstable) who are willing to become a certified CK Supplier.
A CK Supplier makes commitments to track and communicate Region of Origin and Ecological Status of all fruits and vegetables. This allows Circular Kitchens achieve their 2 Pledges to “Track Region of origin” and “ecological status of all food and beverage supplies”. This is the only was we can get transparency into our food and beverage sector in the absence of good food planning by the public sector.
The trouble with the government (red and blue) is that it missed the opportunity to regulate the food system for the public good over the past 50 years. Instead it was regulated for the good of large corporations and their mega-investors (hedge funds and high-net-worth individuals and multi-billionaires invested in our current global food system).
The Circular Kitchens Marketplace is being developed at small scale, connecting our 10 Founding members with nearby organic and ecological farms with distributors, hospitality businesses and households. We help
that offers hospitality businesses as 3 star certification to become a certified Circular kitchen, an ambitious and holistic sustainability standard developed around the 4 Principles of a Circulsr Kitchen:
As a not for profit social enterprise (a CIC) we are in a unique position to help the sector develop the shared vision, support and tools that will give people access to local and ecological food.
The goal is for 100% of our food in the UK to be organic or ecological by reputation, accessible to all (irrespective of your income or the average income or neighbourhood). We consider access to local nutritious spray-free food a human right.
We began by working with restaurants in Whitstable and are helping them to become 3 Star Circular Kitchens certified in 18 months.
Now is your chance to turn your kitchen into a circular kitchen!
We offer 1-3 star certifications based on household self-audits (unlike restaurants who are audited by Circular Kitchens), which you can share on social media to help:
Please note:
We are registered as a Community interest Company (CIC) which means that everything we do is for the benefit our community of interest, which for Circular Kitchens is everyone involved in food and beverages in the UK, from farmers to grocers, butchers, restaurants and households.
As a CIC we face less pressure to serve shareholders (ourselves) over and above the community because:
1- We can never exit and make millions by selling the CIC,
2- We are entitled to no more than 35% of yearly profits in any given year, the rest we share with our workers and volunteers and re-invest into the CIC.
cont. edit here NM
more than 35% of profits per year can be paid to ‘shareholders’ (i.e. 0-35% of profits can be paid to the founders who continue to invest mostly unpaid work, risk of opportunity loss and a little money into the launch and pilot in Whitstable, our founding town). The rest of the profits are paid as a yearly bonus to paid staff, freelancers and volunteers (0-25% depending on circumstances and future plans) and re-invested into the CIC (65%-40%).
Dr. Naji Makarem our Founder and CEO owns 55% of the shares, 30% directly in his name and 20% through his share of UrbanEmerge. UrbanEmerge owns 50% of Circular Kitchens and the Good Guys Agency own 20%.
Another legal characteristic of a CIC is that we can never sell the company. If we all want to close shop and walk away, we hand over the company to our designated benefactor: CT5 Whitstable? They can keep it dormant until they decide its future.
The founding partners of UrbanEmerge are:
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