UniCafe wins its ninth Luomu SM trophy

UniCafe has picked up its ninth win at the Luomu SM (Organic Finnish Championship) competition. The competition pitted professional kitchens against each other to compete on their use of organic ingredients in 2022.

The purchase of almost 49,000 kilograms of organic ingredients meant the average UniCafe customer had 40 grams of organic food on their plate in 2022.  Organic food is an essential component in the sustainable procurement of Ylva’s UniCafe restaurants.

“Supporting the wellbeing of students by offering cheap and sustainably produced food has been at the heart of UniCafe’s operations for 70 years now. Organic food plays an important role in that effort. We also actively look for new ways to expand our offering. One example of this is our launch of vegan catering menus that feature organic food prominently this autumn,” says Ylva’s Restaurants Business Director Anne Immonen.

UniCafe is committed to offering organic food and developing its organic selection going forward. By weight, the three most significant organic foodstuffs are coffee, bananas and milk.

“Using organic food is a value-based decision for us. It’s great to be able to introduce students to organic products. When it comes to food, everything starts with quality ingredients, and when you’re working with organic food, that quality is obvious,” says Product Development and Purchasing Manager Susanne Reiju.

This year was the tenth time that restaurant and food service operators have gone head-to-head in the Luomu SM competition. The competition has three series for both the private and public sectors. Which series a competitor competes in depends on the number of meals it serves over the course of the year. UniCafe took the win in the Large Private Operator category with 5.3 per cent of its procured ingredients being organic, two percentage points more than the closest runner up.

UniCafe joined the Portaat Luomuun (Steps Towards Organic Food) programme in 2013. The amount of organic ingredients in the food we serve is being raised methodically across all UniCafe restaurants. Our selection already consists of approximately 200 different products.

The results of the Luomu SM competition were published on Wednesday 27th of September at the Organic Food Day event in Helsinki. The amount of organic ingredients used was verified using purchase statistics from the professional kitchens. The Luomu SM competition for professional kitchens has been organised annually since 2014.

Further information:

Anne Immonen
Business Director, Restaurants
+358 40 512 5008
anne.immonen@ylva.fi

Susanne Reiju
Product Development and Purchasing Manager
tel. +358 40 057 6283
susanne.reiju@unicafe.fi