Green business builds a green community

David and Gabby Locke and the Entire Tech team receiving their Switched on Business Award from City of Armadale Mayor and Chairperson of the South East Regional Energy Group, Ruth Butterfield. They were joined by Cr Aaron Adams (City of Gosnells / SEREG delegate), City of Melville Business Development Advisor Stuart Tomlinson and Sustainability Engagement Officer Jess Sutherland. Photo credit: City of Melville. 

Ethical, sustainable and local – it doesn’t get much better than this! Dinner Twist is a family-owned & operated with a mission to enable families to create delicious and sustainable meals. The Canning Vale business received a Switched on Business Award.

Buying local

Locally sourcing produce was essential for Dinner Twist to reduce their environmental impact. 99% of ingredients are sourced within WA, supporting the local economy and reducing food miles. The Dinner Twist team have searched the market and found environmentally and ethically supportive food choices locally, including regeneratively-farmed beef, which has lower methane emissions and avoids feedlots. They have also sourced pasteurised eggs, sustainable seafood and in-season, fresh produce while supporting the local community. 

Waste not want not

Australians throw away one in five bags of food they buy and as a result, food waste is a huge issue. It can easily happen when fresh produce is over-purchased, looks or tastes less appealing after being left in the fridge too long or turns into unwanted leftovers. Dinner Twist recognises that this is a major problem in their industry and have worked to exactly match their needs with their purchases… down to the last cent! The precise planning process allows 99% of the food purchased to be utilised, either within the meal kits sent to customers or in the test kitchen. The remaining 1% equates to about one pallet of food every week. Dinner Twist sends this produce to Second Bite, an amazing food rescue and redistriution organisation, to ensure it reaches people in need. What’s more, ready-to-go food boxes which are not collected are distributed to women’s refuges, charities and people in need, throughout the Perth metro area, via their Pay it Forward campaign. 

Inspiring West Australians

The good work at Dinner Twist is contagious and through their blog and social media pages, they share their stories and recipes to inspire others. Every home can get onboard with sustainability by making small changes at meal times. Try this by choosing local produce at supermarkets, visiting farmers’ markets and learning about local producers and sustainable meat options. We too can avoid food rot in our fridges by sharing excess produce with friends, families, neighbours and colleagues, buying only what we need, learning how to cook creatively with leftovers and preserving our food for later.

Reaching higher

Having a small business is a lot like running a series of experiments and navigating your way forward, through trial and error – a bit like the moving feast that is sustainability. Dinner Twist have embodied this concept superbly through their sustainable business journey, setting new internal sustainability challenges & goals each year.

Highlights for Dinner Twist in 2020 included putting solar panels on their building, working with their beef supplier to find home-compostable packaging and moving other packaging to BioPak. Their goal for 2021 is to eliminate all soft plastics from the business by the end of the year. Dinner Twist are Switched on Business champions for their creative and continuous sustainability journey. Congratulations!

Find out more about Dinner Twist’s environmental actions and their meal box delivery service at https://www.dinnertwist.com.au/