On a blustery Friday morning at the CBD, slicked up corporates cradling takeaway coffee cups recline blissfully on the grass-carpeted lawn at Raffles Place Park, a glowing poster for green urbanism. Nowhere is this more apparent than at SaladStop!’s first net-zero store at nearby BCA Green Mark Platinum-certified skyscraper CapitaSpring, fitted out with furniture hewn from fallen trees and geometric-tiled wall installations mosaiced from recycled plastic bottle caps.
But eco-consciousness isn’t just preened on aesthetics, as the chain’s CEO Adrien Desbaillets affirms. The store — conceived by sustainable design maestros Pomeroy Studio — also purchases carbon credits validated by local enterprise software firm Unravel Carbon, practises onsite composting and hews to carbon neutral deliveries by foot or bicycle.
“Standing as a net-zero store is a big claim and even that definition is, in today’s context, quite vague. So, we wanted to make sure we had experts who could determine our exact carbon footprint, which is 22 per cent that of an average restaurant’s.”
Two years in the making, the outlet is a culmination of the multi-national group’s sustainability efforts, which include incorporating locally sourced produce and spearheading a mangrove reforestation project. Such moves are like crisp alpine air to the nostrils of today’s environmentally aware consumers, whom Desbaillets notes are taking a keener interest in companies’ green report cards.
And he now wants SaladStop! outlets to be a clarion call for good.
“What we want to unlock is engagement; trying to get them to donate to a mangrove reforestation project in Indonesia, or get involved in a community project, for example,” explains the stoic entrepreneur, who is married to Ho Renyung, the daughter of Banyan Tree founders Ho Kwon Ping and Claire Chiang.
“We are trying to figure this out with an experience design firm called Eight Inc., which is looking at customer interactions to see how we can get them asking more questions.” If anyone can get a crowd buzzing, it must be the Tim Kobe-led practice, whose design imprint is all over the strikingly alabastrine Apple store.
Soon, it will anchor SaladStop!’s flagship outlet, a digitally enhanced space slated to open in the CBD within the next two to three years.
In some ways, this describes a full circle for the Swiss national, who launched SaladStop!’s first store in Marina Square with his father Daniel in 2009 to provide healthier eating options. His family were global citizens owing to their father’s career in hospitality including a tenure as President-COO of InterContinental Hotels.
“Even though we moved around to so many different cities, that connection to nature was always deep. We got to spend summers in Switzerland — I remember those moments quite fondly and being connected to our local produce,” he reminisces. The elder Desbaillets has since taken a backseat in running the business, which his son, daughter and son-in-law now helm.
The trio’s focus on ramping up SaladStop!’s digital presence and latching onto the cloud kitchen trend helped wing the company over pandemic-induced lockdowns, when sales in commercial areas shuddered to a stop for many operators.
Riding the crest of a recent US$9 million Series B funding round led by Temasek Holdings, they’re contemplating further expansion in Thailand, Australia and the Middle East. Regardless of how that shakes out, SaladStop!’s net-zero ambition has already set benchmarks in sustainable operations.
“Food and beverage represent 28 per cent of our carbon emissions, if you count transportation and other factors. We have a huge impact as an industry, so we are hoping this is also a blueprint for others.”
Videography: Belle Chew
Photography: Mun Kong
Producer: Cara Yap
Styling: Chia Wei Choong
Hair & Makeup: Rick Yang/Artistry, Rick Yang/Artistry, assisted by Nikki Loh, using Shiseido and Keune
