Culinova Consulting

08/10/2025

03/10/2025

💡 Sustainability & Profitability: Two Sides of the Same Coin
In restaurants, we often discuss sustainability in terms of menus, sourcing, and waste — but not enough about profitability.
Without profits, especially for small businesses, it’s impossible to ensure fair pay for staff, support local suppliers, or reinvest in communities. And that’s central to the UN Sustainable Development Goals. 🌍
From waste reduction and energy efficiency to sourcing locally, sustainable practices don’t just protect the planet — they cut costs, reduce losses, and build stronger customer loyalty.
That’s why in my sustainability workshops, I emphasise this point:
✨ Sustainability only works when it’s profitable — they must go hand in hand.

👇DM me to learn more about my workshops

29/09/2025

Last week @foodandhotelnyc (FHM) I shared how to turn “sustainability goals” into real action in the kitchen.
Chefs have so much power — every ingredient we choose changes the footprint of a dish.
My favourite part? The chat after. It showed me we still need simple, practical education in Malaysia about the link between what we eat, what chefs cook, and the planet.
Small wins that add up:
• 🌿 Make one plant-forward hero dish
• 🔁 Swap high-impact ingredients for lower-impact ones
• ♻️ Prep smart to cut waste and reuse components
• 🧮 Track the basics: cost, waste, carbon
Let’s make “sustainable” something guests can taste — not just read. ✨
&B

29/09/2025

Sustainability, plated. 🌱
This dish served is my blueprint for how restaurants can translate sustainability into something guests can taste, see, and remember.
1) Lion’s mane mushroom “rendang”
• Locally cultivated in Malaysia → shorter supply chain, fresher product, supporting local farmers
• Circular crop → typically grown on agricultural by-products (e.g., sawdust), making great use of waste streams.
• Texture + umami → delivers that satisfying, meaty bite without the animal footprint.
• Familiar flavour bridge → a rich, coconut-based local curry - rendang brings local identity and instant guest acceptance.
2) Couscous as the grain
• Lower environmental impact than animal proteins; cereals generally carry a much smaller footprint.
• Energy-smart prep → swells off-heat in minutes; perfect for portion control and reduces cooking energy.
• Waste-wise → easy to batch, finish to order, and repurpose next-day as a salad base.
3) Colourful seasonal vegetables
• Local & seasonal → fewer food miles, better flavour, better margins.
• We eat with our eyes → vibrant colours signal freshness and value before the first bite.

👨‍🏫How other restaurants can learn from this plate
• Lead with a plant-based hero ingredient (like lion’s mane) and anchor it in a beloved local flavour (rendang) for easy adoption.
• Build a low-energy starch (couscous, millet, local grains) into the dish to cut cook time and control portions.
• Design for cross-utilisation: one rendang base = mains, bowls, and canapés.
• Train the team to tell the story on the menu: “Locally grown mushrooms, low-energy grain, seasonal veg.”
• Track cost, sell-through, and waste—this is sustainability that improves margins, not just messaging.
Beautiful, delicious, operationally smart.

This is sustainability in practice and personally I would love to see more places following footsteps.

26/09/2025

Confession time: I first became food consultant for a selfish reason.
Because honestly… whenever I ate out, the options were boring. Same salad. Same pasta. Nothing that felt exciting.

Then came sustainability — and that wasn’t much better. I’d walk into hotels and restaurants with huge “SUSTAINABLE” claims plastered everywhere… and yet, not a single vegan dish on the menu. That felt wrong.

Here’s what I’ve learned: you don’t have to be vegan to run a sustainable business. But if your menu ignores plant-based options, it’s not truly sustainable either.

I’m Anna 👋 Founder of Culinova Consulting.
My mission? To help hotels & restaurants not just look sustainable, but actually deliver it — in a way that also boosts their profits.

Because for me, sustainability isn’t about a logo or a claim. It’s about what’s on the plate. 🌍✨

22/09/2025

🌱✨ I left our Sustainable Menu – Practical Strategies for Professional Kitchens session at feeling so energised by the team’s openness and curiosity.
Together we explored how a truly sustainable menu rests on three pillars:
🌍 Planet – reducing impact
🤝 People – equity, culture, inclusivity
🥗 Guests – nutrition, wellness, safety
What inspires me most is that Sunway already has roots in this work. Their hydroponic rooftop urban farm (with Sunway XFarms) grows herbs and fresh produce for their kitchens, while also running workshops on healthy eating, food security, waste, and water management. 🌿
Sustainability goes beyond just “buy local.” It’s about designing menus that cut carbon and waste, celebrate culture, and support guest wellbeing—every service, every plate.
👏 Cheering for the Sunway team and excited to see these ideas come alive in their kitchens and guest experiences.

💚 I love to see more organisations follow this path.

16/09/2025

✈️ Flew back to my hometown Warsaw for the and WOW 💥 what a weekend!
CARE brings together animal advocates from around the world 🌍 to share ideas, challenge strategies, and shape the future of the movement 🐾 Since 2016 it’s been the place for fresh perspectives and real impact.
I usually look at things through the sustainability lens 🌱 — helping F&B cut down animal products to hit global climate goals. But hearing the same message from the animal welfare side was 🔥. Different angle, same conclusion: change the food system, change the world.
Highlight of the weekend? session on the Welfare Footprint Framework. Imagine choosing food not just by calories, fat or CO₂… but also by the level of animal suffering behind it. Game-changer.
And honestly, couldn’t have asked for better company than the amazing .hospitality team with 💚

04/09/2025

From a tiny deli dream to a KL staple. 🇮🇹
Riccardo Ferrarotti—“loud and proud” founder of —shares how a chef-dad, culinary school at 15, and stints in Italy → China → Dubai → Hong Kong → Malaysia shaped his path.
In 2009 he began importing Italian staples and built Bottega’s grocer-meets-restaurant to educate diners on the real taste of Italy.
Covid? A breakthrough: a 2018 e-comm revamp kept Bottega thriving with deliveries, then expanding to Penang, Johor & PJ. Today it’s people-first leadership (training, fair pay, real appreciation) + old-school flavours.
Sustainability is hands-on: an R&D kitchen to upcycle bread & veg into stocks/powders, consolidated EU shipments to cut CO₂, and ruthless reductions in packaging.
And if you doubt the plastic chairs—wait till you taste the food.
Check the full interview at Linkedin - link in bio

18/08/2025

I’d love to see more places like this in the world 🌍✨
Inclusivity & sustainability in action at — a café, grocery & bistro led by the passionate Samantha.
💚 Local • Organic • Natural • Artisan
🥖 From shelf to plate: house-made vegan cheeses featured in creative dishes — think Caprese salad with vegan mozzarella and juicy tomatoes, or a heroic sandwich layered with nut cheese (umami-packed!), roasted eggplants, juicy tomatoes, lettuce, all inside a proper French-style baguette.
☕ And the coffee? Plant-based with black sesame milk — deep, nutty, and it intensifies the flavor in the best way.
You can shop jams, condiments, veggies & pasta, or sit down and enjoy a beautiful meal with warm, smiling staff. Only thing missing? A vegan dessert 😉
Absolutely worth a visit — if only to try that sandwich.

05/08/2025

Still thinking about Saturday’s Plant & Palate brunch at – and honestly, it was next-level. 🌱✨
Yes, partly for selfish reasons—because now, every first Saturday of the month, I have a perfectly valid excuse to treat myself to one of KL’s most elegant vegetarian brunches. Partially because it’s happening at – a brand known for uncompromising luxury.
The message is clear: you don’t need meat or dairy to deliver fine dining excellence.

From a lavish terrine & cold cut bar with the best tomatoes I’ve ever had (yes, I said it), a full seaweed station in place of seafood.
Canapés and plated mains were served directly to the table (👏 to that thoughtful step towards reducing food waste), to indulgent vegan desserts like panna cotta and Eton mess—this was luxury redefined, the sustainable way.

Buffet is vegetarian, with most dishes vegan-friendly – perfect for a romantic date, mindful brunch, or elegant afternoon with friends. 🥂🌸

10/07/2025

🥄 CREAMY MUSHROOM SOUP—INCLUSIVE BY DESIGN 🥄

Comfort food is only truly comforting when everyone can enjoy it. My latest porcini-packed mushroom soup proves you don’t need dairy—or a big budget—to hit that silky, indulgent note.

Five low-cost “cream” swaps to keep the bowl inclusive:
1️⃣ Coconut milk – shelf-stable velvet, perfect for last-minute prep.
2️⃣ Cashew cream – blend ½ cup soaked cashews with ½ cup water for luxe body.
3️⃣ Tofu – blitz with veggie stock for a protein-rich thickener.
4️⃣ Cannellini purée – beans + broth = creamy texture and extra fibre.
5️⃣ Boiled potato – the classic starch trick that stretches flavour without stretching cost.

🔧 Menu-readiness hack: keep at least two of these bases on hand and you can pivot any soup—tomato, pumpkin, broccoli—into a dairy-free, allergen-friendly star in minutes. Guests feel cared for, food cost stays in check, and your menu earns its inclusivity badge.

Tag me when your next soup goes plant-inclusive—I’d love to see the swirl. 🌱🍄

03/07/2025

🌍🥢→🥩 From Straws to Steaks: the REAL sustainability shift

Paper straws & bamboo cutlery? Cute—but they barely graze the surface.
The real impact is on the plate.

Next leap: ⚡️ Carbon-labelling menus ⚡️

Give guests planet facts at a glance—like nutrition info, but for CO₂.

📊 One-plate reality check (per serving)
🥩 Beef 125 g: 5.0 kg CO₂e
🐔 Chicken 125 g: 1.7 kg
🥚 Eggs (2): 0.6 kg
🥑 Avocado (1): 0.4 kg
🌱 Lentils 1 cup: 0.2 kg

That gap = MASSIVE 😳
Most diners have no clue—until you show them.

Why carbon labels rock:
✨ Positions you as a sustainability leader
✨ Aligns with SDGs 12 & 13
✨ Nudges lower-impact choices without killing flavour

Bottom line: sustainability isn’t an IG prop—it’s what’s on the fork.

Curious to add carbon counts to your menu? DM me—let’s chat! 🌱💬