Why it is a good practice?
Camile Thai is innovating the fast-food world by demonstrating that take-away or delivery of ‘fast-food’ can also be healthy food and can be produced in a sustainable and ethical manner. The restaurant chain through its development strategy has supported its franchisees every step of the way to deliver a quality and consistent product. No matter in what location, they are all aligned with the same principles of locally sourced produce, hand-made aromatic sauces and made-to-order dishes of ‘good mood Thai food’. Through digitalization, they are going that one step further and promoting health, through the use of their App. Here, they provide calorie and macronutrient counts, which are lab tested and certified by Nutritionists. Their website is very much health and nutrition-focused.
About
Camile Thai was established in 2010, opening its first restaurant in Dublin, Ireland. It was small beginnings, but through franchising, the company has expanded to other parts of Ireland. They now have ~30 outlets in the country, as well as restaurants in the UK. Camile Thai has grown to be a well-known and trusted brand in Ireland. Camile Thai have innovated and come up with new ways to grow their business and in the process to break the mold of the ‘traditional takeaway’ by delivering local, healthy and fresh, restaurant-quality Thai food straight to your door. They have a recipe for success and have won the best Thai restaurant in Ireland for several years running.
Sustainability
Environmental and sustainable development has become at the heart of everything Camile Thai is working on. Camile was the first restaurant chain in Ireland, and among the first in Europe, to introduce compostable delivery packaging across its stores. They use the most sophisticated recycling program available to restaurants, as well as water-regulating woks and on average have <1% food waste weekly. They believe in keeping their environmental impact as low as possible. Camille Thai uses locally grown, grass-fed Irish beef and pork, as well as locally grown vegetables and herbs when in season.
Recently, they also added Carbon Counting to their menus, allowing the consumer to make conscious decisions. The also have a wide range of vegan dishes which have 51% fewer emissions on average.
Healthy
With all the menus, the Camile Thai approach is simple. Their expert Thai chefs create restaurant-quality Thai food using fresh, natural ingredients. No grease, no guilt, just delicious, healthy food. Camile is committed to the idea that fast food doesn’t have to mean unhealthy food. Their menus are certified by a nutritionist, and they cater to all diets. Everything on the menu is calorie counted, including macros, so the customer can track exactly what they are eating. At Camile they try to bridge the gap between treat days and tracking days, catering to vegan, lactose-free, gluten-free, and omnivore diets. and they are even on MyFitnessPal. They also run free yoga classes across Dublin and give healthy cookery demos.
Ethical
Camile Thai believe in positive change as they grow, and they know how important it is to be both ethical and to reflect guests’ dietary choices. They recently created a Vegan menu, which is cooked using separate, meat-free woks, oil and utensils, which are only ever used for preparing Vegan dishes. They aim for zero food waste and are trialing ‘cleaner’ delivery methods via Drone delivery. They also put a delivery radius from each outlet to minimise the carbon footprint of the food.
