What’s the motivation of your guests to come to DingsDums Dumplings – is it about doing something good or just eating delicious dumplings?
Mauritz: Our audience is very mixed. Some have been here before and therefore know what we do and what to expect. Others simply come because they read dumplings on the menu or they found us on Google Maps. There are also guests who drop by because they see us on TV and love our idea. In the end, the ratio is about 50:50. What makes us particularly happy is when we get to talk to our guests about what we are doing here. Like a mother who came to our restaurant for her daughter’s birthday lunch. Food waste had been a topic at her daughter’s school and she was very interested in what we were doing and wanted to try out the dumplings.
Last year you won the “Too Good for the Bin” national award and now you are the new winners of the METRO Award for Sustainable Gastronomy. How important are these kinds of awards to you?
Mauritz: Personally, awards like these are extremely meaningful to me, because they give you recognition for what you do beyond your own bubble – family, friends, guests. It’s truly something special when restaurateurs like Christian Rach at the “Too Good for the Bin” national award or people who know the whole scene well and whom you actually look up to, when these people say: “You did great, that’s awesome, you’re on the right track.” This gives us more power and motivation in addition to the feedback we get from our guests.
As a young business, we are also happy about every media hype, all the media attention and of course that’s what awards like this one also offer. The more people become aware of the issue of food rescuing and our restaurant, the better!
Anna: Moreover, with this kind of award we reach the middle of society: Everyone knows METRO, everyone also knows the Federal Ministry of Food and Agriculture. This gives us more visibility, more credibility and also helps us to approach new partners with whom we want to rescue food. Especially at the beginning we heard this a lot: “Yeah, yeah, weirdos!” That has completely changed. We continue to work on this change of consciousness. We want to make it cool to rescue food – with a cool product.