Chef and Co-owner Tim Banks shares how the restaurant was established to deliver a farm to table experience. Tim's 'holistic approach to hospitality' is evident in the ever-changing menu to maximise local and seasonal produce and minimise waste and transport carbon.

“Sustainable thinking has always been a key driver to how we operate. Upon opening the restaurant, we looked at infrastructure, supply chain and operating procedures to ensure we found the best options.”

Lustre partner with many local suppliers including Awatoru Wild Food, Crooked Vege and Conscious Valley Farm. Conscious Valley Farm are Wellingtons local source for ethically farmed meat.

“We know where our food comes from and it is important to us to know that it comes from likeminded, local people, who are also passionate about producing the best products, in the most sustainable way.”

“We have close relationships with our suppliers and support local businesses, I spend a lot of time connecting with our supply chain partners.”

“Crooked Vege sends me a produce list on a Saturday for what they predict they can supply that coming week. These details help menu planning and can reduce waste and transport.”

It was important for Lustre to be fossil fuel free; this was considered when making decisions on the Kitchen appliance choices. The restaurant fit out was also completed using as many recycled materials as possible.

“I worked closely with BCE Catering Equipment to research the best options for the kitchen. We decided on a Combi oven and induction cooking to be fossil fuel free and explored the power consumption of appliances to fit the best options.”

“We wanted to be creative with how we delivered our intimate dining space. We used seconds off cuts of ply to build table furniture. We engaged Critical Design to create our amazing Kitchen clean stone bar top made from recycled milk bottles.”

Food scraps are collected by local partner Organic Wealth for composting.

“I spent a lot of time researching a composting partner and initially I was composting our food scraps myself, however this was time consuming. Council connected us with Organic Wealth and this has delivered a great solution, so now our scraps are collected by them for composting.” 

Like many new businesses Tim highlighted the challenge of time and energy required to research and find the right partners that match their sustainable ethos.

“We need to balance what we can implement; communication is key. Word of mouth and working as a hospitality community to all improve. We are on a constant cycle of self-improvement. “

Lustre delivers a contemporary, natural food dining experience, featuring locally sourced ingredients with a focus on utilising seasonal produce.