Loki Poke: Leading in sustainability

Traceable ingredients, local suppliers, sustainable seafood, raising money for a social enterprise and analysing their carbon footprint are just some of the initiatives introduced by Loki Poke. Their efforts have been rewarded with two sustainability Awards – British Street Food Awards’ Sustainability Award and UberEats Climate Impact Award.

Loki Poke, which serves healthy bowl food from a shipping container in Bristol’s Wapping Wharf, serves colourful poké bowls with a strong emphasis on local, seasonal produce and ethically sourced fish. They have recently opened a new outlet at St Nicholas Market in Bristol and also run an events business.

Georgia Hussey, founder and managing director, says, “We wanted to make healthy, tasty fast food – something nourishing, colourful and sustainably sourced. I also wanted to run a food business that’s built around ethics and transparency.”

National Recognition for Sustainability

Winning the British Street Food Awards’ Sustainability Award was a massive achievement for the team, who opened their doors in 2021. “We’re incredibly proud to have our sustainability work recognised at a national level,” says Georgia. The Sustainable Restaurant Association judged the award across three areas – sourcing, society and environment. Georgia says “I think we do a bit of all three. We work closely with local suppliers, choose ingredients carefully, as well as paying and treating our staff well, getting involved in local community projects, minimising food waste and trying to reduce our carbon footprint where possible.”

Local suppliers play a key role. Local butcher Beast and Co provide the company with free range chicken from Stream Farm in Somerset, which practises regenerative farming. They also worked with Conscious Food Co to replace sashimi tuna with Hampshire Chalksteam Trout, a locally sourced sustainable alternative and ran an awareness campaign to encourage customers to try it. Georgia says, “Tuna is a heavily overfished species and the traceability of imported sashimi-grade tuna can be difficult to guarantee. We wanted a low-impact, local alternative and Chalkstream trout was a perfect fit. It’s responsibly farmed, rich in omega-3 and has the same delicate texture and clean flavour as salmon, so it works brilliantly served as sashimi. For any customers who ordered a salmon bowl, we would offer sashimi trout instead.”

Educating Customers and Raising Awareness

Supporting the launch Loki Poke also collaborated with Food Tours of Bristol, who added them to their tour. Attendees were able to sample a mini trout bowl and learnt about the swap. “We created educational content on social media and designed clear messaging around the switch,” added Georgia. “The response was overwhelmingly positive – people said they preferred the flavour.”

When it comes to social sustainability, the company collaborates with Bristol-based Mazi Project, which works to empower disadvantaged 16–25-year-olds through food and community by adding a special poké bowl dish to the menu.