The Banksia Tree

Sean Edwards - The Magazine for the Cafe Industry December 15, 2020

Updated 2020/12/16 at 2:38 AM

3 Min Read

The Banksia Tree Cafe owners Halie Folghera, holding son Jasper, and Fabian.

A sustainable cafe story

The Banksia Tree Cafe has a strong focus on supporting South Australian farmers and producers. Sourcing everything locally in South Australia, helping South Australia to grow as well as reducing their carbon footprint.

Local, Seasonal & Sustainable

The Banksia Tree Cafe use food from the source, close to home. From pasture fed beef in the Limestone Coast and the Adelaide Hills, free range chickens and eggs from the Falkai valley, grains and pulses farmed and grown on the Yorke Peninsula, single origin oats from the pristine Kangaroo Island, small-goods raised and crafted in the Barossa valley and the Adelaide Hills, even the seafood is caught sustainably in the waters of South Australia.

All their craft beers are made in the port and the vegan, organic and biodynamic wines come from no further than their own Barossa or McLaren Vale. When food has less miles to travel, it results in fresher produce, less carbon emissions and keeps the profits within the state.

Reduce, re-use and recycle.

As part of the Semaphore Compost Network, The Banksia Tree Cafe are able to turn waste into valuable resources, even their takeaway cups and containers are biodegradable.

The Banksia Tree Cafe was less than 12 months old when covid-19 hit.

“As a sustainable cafe aiming for zero waste, we have a strong focus on local produce and suppliers, making sure we use as much of the produce as possible and only using seasonal ingredients.” Says cafe owner Fabian Folghera

During covid, the cafe began selling grocery packs full of local produce and suppliers within 100km of the cafe.

Initiating a pay it forward campaign that saw guests pay forward 3K of groceries for those stuck at home, isolating, sick or unable to afford food due to low employment.

The team compost all their coffee grounds as well as all their green waste through the semaphore compost network, who they still use to this day.

“We now cart less than 1 residential wheelie bin of landfill a week, only use compostable packaging and 100% of our coffee and green waste is composted locally, enriching the ground where or produce is grown.” says Fabian.

The Banksia Tree Cafe still stock local makers gifts and food products in their corner store.