For the third year in four, our Ethical Award winner comes from the Bristol area. Friska is a friendly eat-in or takeaway chain aimed at office workers and with a global menu: think chorizo hash for breakfast, pho for lunch, or a Moroccan chicken sandwich to go.
Founded five years ago by economics graduates Griff Holland and Ed Brown, Friska has had ethical principles from the start – even though that can be a challenge in a chain that now has 45 employees. “We change our menu seasonally with a view to being locally sourced, but we can’t guarantee it when you’re planning a menu three months in advance,” says Holland. “We inevitably create waste from packaging, but we have zero waste to landfill. Our electricity is 100% renewable. Every time we build a store toilet, we build one with Christian Aid in a developing country.”
The idea for Friska came to Holland on a family holiday in California. “I was blown away by the the availability of fresh, tasty, affordable food at places where you can go every day rather than as a treat and thought, ‘Why can’t we have that here?’”
This became something of an obsession. “I travelled around Asia and kept doing market research. In Thailand it got ridiculous. I’d hang around shopping centres asking people why they went to particular salad bars. That’s when I realised enough was enough, so I decided to get home and crack on.”
Friska’s partnership with the microfinance charity Deki is crucial. Every month, each store contributes 10p from each sale of one product to help entrepreneurs in developing countries, from tailors in Malawi to grocers in South Sudan. Brown says: “We support two a month now, and we’d like to make that a dozen.” Holland adds: “We can have a real impact. This isn’t just a greenwash.”
They’re chuffed to have won this award, but Holland says: “I think of what we do as responsible more than ethical” – which affects the way they aim to treat every part of the business from suppliers to staff and customers. For Friska, the next stop is Birmingham and Manchester. But the principles will remain the same, no matter how far they go.
Friska food
deki.org.uk
Clifton Coffee
