The Pig Hotel
There is something quite symbolic about Oak & Rope sawdust being used by chefs who value ingredients as much as they do at The Pigs. Read all about how this collaboration came about...
Through everything we do, we create a lot of sawdust. This need processing to ensure we have a safe working environment and to ensure that the 'finish' on all our products is perfect.
Our first idea of how to deal with it was to compress the dust into briquettes that can be used as firewood. Nothing is added in this process, the briquettes are 100% prime oak and burn very hot and clean.
We sell these in 5 kg bags and the proceeds go to various charities. We call it ‘The Warmest Wood in the World’ because it heats us when we create the sawdust, it provides the heat in your home and the proceeds generate a warm feeling… We even developed a return system for our hessian bags to minimise any waste involved. This does however seem to have failed somewhat, as people like the bags so much they would rather buy more!
Sadly, not all sawdust compacts very well, and we needed another solution. One idea was to use it for our packaging. Before we went too far with that idea somebody pointed out that our customers probably didn’t want a box full of sawdust with their purchase and we would simply be making it somebody else’s problem…
But as luck would have it, the coarse type of shavings that this applies to, is perfect for smoking food! As we only work with solid European prime oak in our workshop, we know our sawdust is pure. Oak smoked salmon in particular is a delicacy and requires the best quality oak.
Over the last few years many people started experimenting with smoking food at home. This did not make much of a dent in our mountains of dust and for some time a lot of this went into landfill.
We could not be happier when Kamil (head chef at The Pig) asked us if we had any sawdust he could use in his kitchen. Finally, justice could be done to the last bit of our major waste factor. There is something quite symbolic about Oak & Rope sawdust being used by chefs who value ingredients as much as they do at The Pigs.
The Pig at Bridge Place is a short walk away from our workshop so well within the 25-mile rule. It is however funny how our new neighbours who put so much emphasis on local, have in turn helped our national and global reach.
Our growth over the years has relied on word-of-mouth. Because so many of the things we make are gifts for big events our pieces very quickly travelled the world. We have travelled with them too, and after the arrival of The Pig in our backyard we have been able to invite clients to visit our workshop from afar, knowing that they will get the best possible experience when looked after by our friends at Bridge Place.
It is so encouraging to see a company that has ‘doing the right thing’ as a fundamental part of their business plan, succeed. It encourages you to do even more.
Click here to see all the other wonderful thing happening at The Pig Hotels...
