Welcome to the second instalment of the ‘Cafes That Are Killing It’ blog series!
This week, we are shining the spotlight on an incredible Melbourne-based environmentally innovative social enterprise – the Moon Rabbit Cafe.
Of course, the incredible Moon Rabbit is going to be a feature at our Stronger Together Cafe Summit, so be sure to join and learn more from this inspiring and responsible cafe.
The core ethos of Moon Rabbit is reimagining hospitality by putting people and the planet first, and this is why they are the perfect example of a Responsible Cafe! Moon Rabbit is only 3 years old, but has already made a meaningful impact on its community. Sam Fisher is the manager and believes people and planet are at the heart of every decision made in the cafe.
There are some truly amazing environmental initiatives in place. One of these is their refusal to serve coffee in single-use cups. Instead, there are a variety of innovative and creative alternatives provided by the cafe.
Firstly, Moon Rabbit has a mug library where people can borrow a mug for their coffee and return it – and has received so many mug donations from the community. They also use jars, with over 3500 coffees served in jars last year. And they encourage customers to take five minutes to stop, sit down and enjoy their coffee. Over their 3 years, Moon Rabbit has sold 45,000 coffees paper-cup free. And not only that, their customers walk away feeling empowered!
Moon Rabbit Cafe is also creating a closed-loop system, continually redefining their notion of waste! They challenge their supply chain, the ‘takeaway ethos’ and approach to food. They work with their suppliers to create reusable systems, and this supply chain goes on to create no packaging waste! Their coffee is delivered in refillable tins for example, bread delivered in reusable bread bags and the cardboard boxes which bring fruits and vegetables are returned to the supplier.
They love to use every part of an ingredient in their menu – from the ends of bread to the top of a strawberry! Moon Rabbit has three worm farms on site, which deals with most of their organic waste. And whatever is left over is handed to the community as compost for local gardens.
Moon Rabbit is a cafe brought to life by the not-for-profit organisation Bridge Darebin and is creating meaningful social impact along with its environmental innovations! It is the training site for students in a tailored work-readiness program (TTT program), provides an income stream for Bridge Darebin’s underfunded community programs, such as Laneway Lunches, and provides affordable, accessible food through Bulk Foods Collective.
Moon Rabbit’s top tips for becoming a Responsible Cafe are:
- Setting your intentions and knowing your why – why are you doing this, why does it matter to you?
- And if you feel out of your depth and don’t know where to begin, start reading and finding out what those gaps are for you and how to bridge them!
We feel so lucky to have such an inspiring cafe as part of our Stronger Together Summit. Don’t forget to tune in to hear more from the Moon Rabbit team.