“Anyone selling food containing toxins should have to declare this, not the other way around.” An interview with Pola Rapatt and Theresa Prüssen, Co-Managing Directors Unternehmen Mitte.
Right from the start, Unternehmen Mitte has always attached great importance to sustainability and fair working conditions. Do we even need an organic certificate?
The switch to organic actually began ten years ago, when we bought our first organic lemonade and organic milk. A few years later, ninety percent of the ingredients in our kitchen were already organic. So the organic certificate is just the tip of the iceberg for us. We see the certificate as a further step towards raising awareness - both among our guests and other businesses. We hope that this step will make us a role model.
What areas does the certificate cover?
The certificate covers all catering areas of our company - Coffee Mobile, Kaffeehaus, the restaurant, the catering service, and the bakery. The store is not declared as an organic store, but you will still find mainly organic products there. The most difficult part is certainly the coffee. The quality and roasting profile are precisely tailored to our needs, which is not something that can be changed overnight in such large quantities. Fifty percent of the coffee blend comes from a producer in India and one in Peru, and both of them are certified organic. The other half comes from the APAS cooperative in Brazil, which is not yet certified organic. However, APAS is currently examining further steps to encourage even more of its members to go organic.
You can also consume “non-organic things” on an organic farm - how, exactly, does that work?
Products that are not certified organic are labeled as such. These include spirits such as “Läckerly” or “Beggeschmütz”.
Why did you choose organic and not another certification?
Much of what we source is Demeter, Knospe or EU Organic - in the Border Triangle, the latter is an important point, as many of our suppliers come from nearby countries. We prefer to use Demeter products, because they are of the highest quality.
What do you think are the weaknesses of the organic certificate?
The certificate involves a lot of administrative work. All recipes and ingredients are recorded and filed, which is quite bureaucratic - we have hundreds of ingredients and products. For me, the status quo is an upside-down world: anyone who sells food containing toxic substances should have to declare this, not the other way around. Another disadvantage is certainly that the products of small farmers who cannot afford this certification, or even mushrooms collected from the forest themselves, have to be labeled as “not organic”. Ultimately, however, the advantages clearly outweigh the disadvantages: a common standard is agreed on with the guests. And this is not only reflected in the label, but usually also in the taste!
