FYN RESTAURANT awarded The Food Made Good Three Star Rating
The restaurant received the rating—considered the gold standard for measuring progress across the industry—from The Sustainable Restaurant Association.
FYN restaurant, renowned for its unique cuisine, which combines the best of South Africa’s ingredients with Japanese techniques, continues to set the standard for sustainability both in South Africa and across the continent.
Helmed by chefs Peter Tempelhoff and Ashley Moss, together with service and beverage director Jennifer Hugé, the restaurant has once again received global recognition for its sustainable efforts, becoming the first restaurant in Africa to be awarded the top honour of three stars by The Sustainable Restaurant Association’s Food Made Good Standard.
The restaurant achieved the rating after undergoing a rigorous and thorough evaluation, which involved answering over 200 questions covering social responsibility, environmental impact, and responsible sourcing, as well as submitting multiple layers of evidence to support its sustainability claims.
According to the association, FYN received the accolade for its all-encompassing approach to sustainability, which spans the gamut of the business.
“FYN’s results prove that they are doing exactly what they say they are!” comments the association’s managing director, Juliane Caillouette Noble, adding “Highlights include always offering a plant-based dinner menu, sourcing indigenous ingredients from local farmers, and supporting small-scale fishers through the non-profit Abalobi. They also collaborate with conservation teams for sustainable foraging and cultivate native plants at their Buitenverwachting Wine Estate garden. In addition, they partner with Infinity Training to provide chef training for unemployed youth. Their zero-waste approach includes working with Don’t Waste to separate waste and convert food scraps into fertiliser.”
It is this multi-tiered approach to sustainability that has positioned FYN as a leading sustainable force in Africa’s culinary scene, and one they intend to keep developing over time. “As a restaurant, we are constantly working to operate as responsibly as possible—be that through sourcing ingredients, working towards regenerating the supply of indigenous crops, repurposing our waste, or mentoring the next generation of chefs. It’s something we consider at every stage of our business. We are incredibly proud of this accolade, especially as it comes from the global industry’s leading body when it comes to sustainability,” says Chef Peter Tempelhoff.
In 2023, FYN won the Sustainability Award at The World’s 50 Best Restaurants (judged by The Sustainable Restaurant Association’s team of sustainability consultants), recognising its exceptional approach to sustainability—a standard it has upheld and built upon, culminating in the awarding of this three-star rating.
About The Sustainable Restaurant Association:
Since 2010, The Sustainable Restaurant Association (The SRA) has set the Standard for sustainable food and drink businesses, connecting businesses across the globe to accelerate change toward a hospitality sector that is socially progressive and environmentally restorative. They do this through the world’s largest sustainability certification tailored for the sector, the Food Made Good Standard. The Standard is awarded to restaurants and other F&B businesses around the world that meet a set of rigorous, measurable criteria across three main focus areas: Sourcing, Society and Environment. The accreditation aims to encourage, support and recognise sustainability practices across the F&B industry worldwide.
The Food Made Good Standard takes a big-picture, holistic view of what sustainability should mean for the hospitality industry. Undertaking this work means a restaurant is not only minimising food waste, carbon emissions or water use, but also implementing sustainable sourcing policies, designing menus that are good for both people and planet, treating staff with compassion and dignity, and getting involved in the local community. The Standard changes what it means to be a sustainable restaurant in the 21st century.www.thesra.org
