Grounded Kitchen & Local2Local helped by HU- and VU-students
On October 23rd the Grounded Chefs unveiled the all-new Grounded Kitchen, a local and social restaurant, located in the food court at the faculty of Hogeschool Utrecht at Heidelberglaan 15 (HL15), Utrecht Science Park.
In collaboration with Local2Local and Hogeschool Utrecht, Grounded is pioneering an alternative, fair and health-conscious food system in the heart of Utrecht Science Park. Grounded Kitchen’s mission is clear: we support our local farmers in their dedication to sustainable farming practices and offer a respectable living wage to our young creative chefs, while providing high-quality, affordable cuisine. For this we also incorporated a collaboration with the student communities of our partners Stichting Groentetas and Green Office HU.
Grounded Kitchen at HL15 also serves as a inspiration and meeting point for students who are interested in the transition to local food. And this worked, because over the course of a few weeks Grounded was approached by a wide range of HU-students with the question whether Local2Local/Grounded had projects to work on. This didn’t fall on deaf ears, and as of november the following VU– and HU-students are helping Local2Local and Grounded Kitchen with research and business development:
VU Master students Sustainable Business Innovation
Two groups of Free University of Amsterdam’s master students Sustainable Business Innovation have taken on the business case of Grounded Kitchen, they will look at multiple possible value propositions through collaboration in the entire food chain. Their deliverable will be a transferrable concept which can empower students at the HU to develop their own farmer- and student-driven restaurant. Local2Local (and Amped) have been partner with VU Amsterdam for several years and the VU-students initiative to help Grounded Kitchen came about from this partnership and our research project on the Bionutrient Meter.
HU students Creative Business
The group of students from HU Creative Business is applying itself to look into Local2Local’s and Grounded’s customer activation, the business case, and they will research creative, transparent financial models. Their deliverable will also need to be transferrable.
HU students Business Administration
The Business Administration students currently run Grounded Kitchen’s Instagram-account and they aim to develop an integrated ‘farm-to-fork’ story.
Obviously, we can’t wait for the results due in January 2024!