Artbox Cafe Brighton

ARTBOX Cafe is the UK's first dedicated character ‘Kawaii’ themed cafe. Typically these cafes in Japan are not entirely sustainable - that’s why this one in Brighton is different. Find out how ARTBOX are making sustainability CUTE and how the people of Brighton have responded.

Written by Sharna Waid

How are you creating a new sustainable version of kawaii cafes in Japan here in Brighton? The kawaii character themed cafes in Japan are incredible, but they are so concentrated on the unique concept that they unfortunately don’t tend to have any focus on sustainability. ARTBOX Cafe is inspired by these cafes and offers the first Japanese-style cute character themed cafe experience in the UK, with a new character theme arriving every few months.

However, ever since the idea for ARTBOX Cafe was dreamt up, we knew we wanted it to run as sustainably as possible. ARTBOX’s brand is based on spreading "kawaii" (the concept of cute) through cute character goods mainly imported from Japan so we would never claim to be carbon neutral, however if anything, this motivates us to work even harder to offset our impact.

Why is it important for other cafes around the world to do the same? As our planet becomes ever more overpopulated and natural resources are used up, it’s increasingly more important for businesses large and small to do what they can to run as sustainably as possible. Although corporations and governments have the most impact, small businesses can also make a difference and encourage their customers to do the same. Food waste and packaging waste are huge problems, so it’s important for cafes and restaurants to consider what they can do to minimise these issues.

Things are improving – for example in Japan, there are more and more small cafes popping There is always room for improvement and we’re regularly looking for things we could do better, but here are some of the things we’re currently doing to run more sustainably:

— Our entire menu is vegetarian and almost every item on our menu has a vegan option

— The ice cream in our take out selection always has 50% vegan varieties

— We offer vegan versions of all our hot drinks (e.g. plant milk, vegan cream) at no extra cost

— We don’t generate much food waste thankfully, but as much as possible we donate any excess food to local homeless shelters

— All of our take out packaging is recyclable or compostable and made from sustainable plant-based materials - even our colourful ice cream spoons and clear cold drink cups

— Coasters and placemats from our sit down menu which guests take home as souvenirs are all made from sustainable paper/pulp

— We source our ingredients as locally as possible; we use local bakers, environmentally conscious coffee from a Brighton-based micro roaster (Pharmacie), and our teas come from a Brighton-based supplier of ethically sourced and fairly traded speciality tea with fully biodegradable tea bags (Hoogly)

up recently based around plantbased food and sustainability, who are introducing these concepts to a new generation. Change always starts from somewhere, and if it starts from the ground up and spreads, then hopefully those in power will eventually have to take notice.

How has the local community responded to the cafe? As we’re the first themed cafe of its kind in Europe and we have the shopping boutique built in too, people have found it really intriguing and exciting. Quite a lot of guests travel from far afield to visit us, however we also cherish all our local customers. A traditional ice cream parlour had been on the site where ARTBOX Cafe is located for over a decade, so we’ve had visits from previous patrons who are curious as to what we’re doing here now. We’re always happy to inform them that even though we have this cute theme and look very different, we still have the same amazing ice cream made on site, quality coffee and some of the staff including the ice cream chefs are the same as before!

Brighton is a city with lots of demand for vegan options, however many people who visit are still amazed at how much vegan food we offer – perhaps because we don’t immediately appear to be the kind of cafe to do that. Most of our guests have been eating in the cafe to start with, and then browsing the boutique on their way out to pick up some of the cute and rare items from Japan. Some local customers have definitely started to become more interested in kawaii Japanese culture after visiting us, and they’ve returned multiple times to explore it more! Other local businesses have been really supportive since we opened in August 2019, which we’ve been really thankful for.

Rosanna Kawaii Trading – Creative Director @artbox_cafe