Ethical Sourcing

Compassion counts for us in a big way at Otarian so the way we source each and every one of our ingredients is really important. We want to make sure at all times that we do not hurt anyone or anything! On the contrary – wherever possible we want to help! Its part of who we are and what we do! So we promise to always be responsible in who we choose to work with and to be honest, open and fair in everything we do.

ANIMAL RIGHTS

Meat animals are farmed and killed in ways too horrible to describe!

We can’t get our heads and hearts around the fact that 60 billion animals are killed for meat every year.  That’s 1.15 billion every week, or almost 164 million every day.

That’s more than double the population of the UK or more than half the population of the US, in just one day.

Who’s eating all this flesh? We certainly aren’t! Because we know that vegetarianism is the single largest step – and close to the ultimate - in assuring animal rights. But, at Otarian, ‘close’ is never close enough – after all we love life, and animals are one of our key stakeholders!

We will not let the animals down!

Not eating meat is not enough. Animal rights are considered in the sourcing and use of all our ingredients.

SUPPORTING THE LOCAL COMMUNITY

We may have a global menu but we feel very much a part of our local communities.

We try to provide local jobs and work with local businesses and are grateful to work with local charities to redistribute surplus food to those less privileged around us.

We like our neighbours and hope they like us too so we do unto others what we’d like them to do unto us: We minimise noise and disruption, and make sure that our premises always look tidy and presentable.

We care about places as much as we care about people and the planet so we are working to make sure our buildings fit in with local historical architecture and the character of their surroundings.

LOCAL FOOD AND FARMERS

Well, farmers are part of our local community too! And we want to support them in any way we can, particularly the smaller producers. So, we’ll introduce them to you through our stores and on this website and we hope you’ll support them too! (We are proud to show you where your food is from and how it is produced!)

FAIR TRADE AND RAINFOREST

We are committed to sourcing all products as locally as possible but with our global offerings comes a degree of global trade, although we never use airfreight.

We know that producers in developing countries are often treated unfairly and paid too little for their goods because this keeps product prices low and helps some folk make bigger profits. This is particularly true with products such as sugar, coffee, honey, and chocolate.

We are totally against this and totally in favour of fair trade. This means that we are committed to paying all of our suppliers a fair price and to forming partnerships based on transparency and respect. All of our teas and coffees are ethically sourced from merchants who pay a non-exploitative price, and who work with their suppliers to improve the conditions of workers and the environment.

This means some of our meals may have a smaller profit margin - but this is just fine by us. We are happy to earn less so that others can earn more.

As long as we are creating a more just world – we are happy!