The chefs' passion impresses meeting bookers during a culinary tour in Aarhus

An ecological inspiration tour to five very different dining establishments in Aarhus with organic options on their menus impressed the meeting planners from Aarhus University.

They left with a greater understanding of why it makes good sense to look for the Organic Dining Label when searching for attractive meeting venues for the university's researchers and educators, who often care about sustainability and ecology.

"What do you get when you go out?" was written in gold lettering on the cloth bags handed out to the 37 Aarhus-based meeting planners when they arrived on Tuesday for the first stop on a culinary tour of five more or less organic eateries in downtown Aarhus.

With approximately 9,000 employees and 37,500 students from home and abroad, Aarhus University is, according to Visit Aarhus, an important customer for the organic restaurants and hotels in Aarhus, as the university hosts many guests and organizes numerous meetings and conferences around the city.

The participants need catering, and here sustainable concepts add extra points with the meeting planners, as long as prices are reasonable, and the culinary walk was an eye-opener for many of the meeting planners, who often refer guests to the places they already know.

"It was a very inspiring tour around some extremely passionate eateries, proud of their local producers and the products they make. You could really feel their passion, and I think many of them had some really good stories to tell. It makes everything very personal and tangible," said Karen Bech-Pedersen, who is a meeting planner at the Department of Molecular Biology and Genetics at Aarhus University.

She is impressed by the high ambitions of the eateries – both in terms of sustainability and knowledge of their suppliers. But she wonders why the restaurants do not tell more stories to their guests while they are in the restaurant.

"Maybe they should tell about how important it is for them to find meat from organic producers, where they know the animals have had good lives. They could also have pictures of the local producers hanging in the restaurants. That way, they can help promote both Aarhus and all of Denmark," said Karen Bech-Pedersen, who will from now on focus more on looking for the Organic Dining Label when booking restaurants and hotels for the university's many guests.

This message is well received by Rita Ramona Høgh, marketing consultant at the Organic Association, who organized the event together with Visit Aarhus.

Your choice makes a difference!

The tour was specifically designed to inspire the meeting planners to think sustainably and use the organic labels as guiding marks when booking venues for meetings and conferences around the city.

"The choice you make has an impact," said Rita Ramona Høgh as she welcomed the meeting planners to a day dedicated to ecology.

"Meeting planners are really interesting because they make choices for a large group of people, and it makes a big difference if they choose organic eateries," said Rita Ramona Høgh.

The tour started at DGI-Huset Aarhus. It is housed in the old DSB central workshop behind the main train station. Here, the blacksmiths and large diesel trains have given way to fitness enthusiasts of all ages. A few staff members in the kitchen, which has the Silver Organic Dining Label, prepared the organic breakfast for the meeting planners, several of whom were unaware that the carefully renovated buildings can host meetings with over 1,000 participants.

"We are both SKI-certified and Green Key-certified and have space for up to 1,100 people in the largest hall," said Troels Knudsen, director of DGI-Huset, which also has very small meeting rooms available.

Fantastic start for Guldsmeden

"In education, the trend has shifted towards more organic and sustainable practices, so it is very natural that I am part of a hotel chain like Guldsmeden, where sustainability is a core value. Just look at the tables you're sitting at here in the restaurant. They are made from old floorboards from one of our hotels in Copenhagen," said Michael Dahl.

He highlighted a special water purification system that ensures that the bathwater in the rooms circulates in a closed system, is cleaned, and reused as part of the hotel's various sustainability initiatives.

"We buy 90-100% organic in our kitchen, and the hotel has just been open for three months. This gives us the necessary documentation, so we hope to soon receive the Gold Organic Dining Label, which we already have at all our Copenhagen hotels," said the hotel manager, while the meeting planners sampled the kitchen's offerings, including raw-marinated tomatoes with organic pepper bacon from Troldgaarden.

The Aarhus hotel opened on July 1st and has 211 rooms. With a occupancy rate of 88-90%, it has had a fantastic start in Aarhus, and in collaboration with nearby meeting venues, Belle Guldsmeden offers both accommodation and catering for conference participants.

"The new Train (Aarhus music venue, red.) is located just below the hotel, and many of the musicians appreciate our organic profile, so they come here to eat, and some also stay with us," said Michael Dahl, who hopes that in the future, the hotel will also be visited by guests from Aarhus University.

Interesting new places

According to Vibeke Moll Sørensen, who books meetings for the Institute of Advanced Studies at Aarhus University, this seems like a realistic expectation:

"Both our many international researchers and those organizing the institute's meetings and conferences are very conscious of sustainability, which also matters a lot to them when we book hotel rooms," said Vibeke Moll Sørensen, who has currently booked rooms for 11 guests at Aarhus hotels.

She notes that there is often a tendency to book the same places as before, so it was interesting to take a tour of some eateries and the new Guldsmeden hotel, which she had not booked before.
But since the university is a publicly funded institution, hotels preferably need to have a procurement agreement with SKI to secure a booking.

Nina Bech Stage, project manager at Visit Aarhus, sees exciting prospects in the idea that the city's eateries can help promote Aarhus as a green city.
"Therefore, it is important that we connect the restaurant industry and the university more closely so they better understand each other's wishes and needs," she said.

Surplus goods determine the menu

Restaurant Nögen hosted the third stop of the day, where restaurant manager David Tobiasen explained that most beverages are organic.
"But since our ingredients are based on surplus food from Aarstiderne and BC Catering, it is impossible to plan a fixed menu or specify a certain organic percentage, as we never know what ingredients we will receive. Our focus is on reducing food waste, so the menu can change from day to day," said David Tobiasen, who added that the food is predominantly vegetarian.

To extend the shelf life of the ingredients, Nögen works extensively with pickling and fermentation when receiving large quantities of fruits and vegetables, while pressed residues are transformed into syrup for the bar's drinks.

Special package deal from Hærværk

"As meeting planners, we have a limit regarding catering, as we can spend at most 800 DKK on an dinner with drinks," explained Karen Bech-Pedersen.

After a visit to Restaurant L’øst at the Scandic Aarhus City hotel, which combines the Bronze Organic Dining Label with familiar meeting facilities used by many Aarhus-based meeting planners, a pleasant surprise awaited at the day's final stop.

It was at the high-end restaurant Hærværk, where chef and owner Rune Lund Sørensen is known for his uncompromising focus on seasonal ingredients, local producers, and organic gastronomy. For this occasion, he had prepared a special package deal for the meeting planners from Aarhus University.
Going forward, they can order a five-course menu with a couple of glasses of wine and coffee for 800 DKK.

The article is part of the project The Organic Dining Label, supported by the Foundation for Organic Agriculture