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Served GREEN @ The Creamery

6 staff members laughing behind the counter

The Creamery have just reached a new milestone. This November marks 7 years of serving exceptional ice-cream to the Cape, as sustainably as possible.

We sat down with their brand manager, Maggie, in their Newlands cafe to find out how they do it – over coffee and ice-cream, of course!

Below are our key take-aways for how The Creamery are aiming to achieve solid green credentials.

a scoop of ice-cream in a bagasse bowl

100% Natural

The Creamery’s core ethos is to make the best ice-cream they possibly can using natural ingredients. Nothing artificial is ever added – only quality, whole foods like real free range eggs, lots of fresh fruit, nuts and bean-to-bar chocolate.

All the flavor comes from the ingredients, so freshness and quality are essential for impactful flavor.

Hey Sugar!

We learned that The Creamery love serving their scoops in our sugarcane ice-cream bowls not only because they’re compostable, but because using packaging made from waste sugarcane fiber is a perfect fit for ice-cream. The sugarcane plant supplies both sweetness and packaging! That’s serious plant power.

We were also delighted to hear that The Creamery have been composting all their organic waste since day 1. And they have a 2 bin system in store – empowering their customers to compost too.

A guy in a Creamery apron holding a scoop of ice-cream toward the camera

Strictly Seasonal

Using the freshest ingredients means that Mother Nature guides the menu. For example, peak quality granadillas are available mostly in December and January. So that’s when you’ll find granadilla ice-cream.

In a culture accustomed to on-demand, it’s a refreshing return to seasonality. Maggie spoke of how special it feels when particular fruits – and the flavors they bring – come into season, allowing them to be savored with new appreciation.

Empower Local

Empowering local farmers is central to the aims of The Creamery. They have been sourcing produce from small local farms and businesses and supporting farmers using sustainable methods since inception.

chatting to Maggie inside the Creamery

Reset the Narrative

The Creamery enjoy creating stores where sustainability is a streamlined part of the business. Having biodegradable packaging and compost bins is a great way to reset the narrative. They don’t believe people need to be guilted into doing the right thing – education and empowerment are far more effective.

Energy Efficient

Ice-cream, of course, needs excellent, and reliable refrigeration. No-one wants to see top quality ice-cream and ingredients wasted! The Creamery have an energy audit and plan created by Ecolution Consulting, to ensure their ice-cream is protected in the event of load shedding or power cuts. That way, food waste is avoided, and their energy usage is kept as low as possible.

Wide shot of the cafe interior with a woman sitting at a table

The Creamery have definitely taken ice-cream to the next-level in Cape Town – both in terms of quality and sustainability.

To end off, we had to ask Maggie her favorite summer flavor. She couldn’t settle on one, but narrowed it down to three: White Nectarine, Granadilla Choc Chip, and Strawberry. Yum!

Hungry? Check out their Instagram page for updates, info and flavors and watch out for their new store opening in Durbanville soon!

Hands scooping ice cream into a cup behind the ice-cream counter

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