Minesh Agnihotri
13th May 2016
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A pioneering Indian restaurant owner is making deliveries in a 100% electric Nissan LEAF as he aims to create Britain’s greenest takeaway.
Minesh Agnihotri of Indian Summer in Brighton is using the car as he trials a new environmentally friendly waste-free service in the city.
The members-only club, being piloted by the restaurant, will see takeaway orders delivered in reusable metal containers known as tiffins. Customers then simply wash the tiffins and hand them back to the delivery driver next time they place an order.
The aim is to reduce the packaging and waste associated with ordinary takeaway deliveries.
Using the LEAF for deliveries will also allow the business to dramatically reduce its delivery costs and carbon footprint.
Minesh estimates that making his deliveries by LEAF would save £8,000 per year. That’s equivalent to:
888 Mamaji chicken karahi
4,000 portions of basmati rice
4,571 tandoori breads
or 10,666 poppadoms
Minesh said: “I spent a lot of time in India as a child and my mum used to send me to school with my lunch in a tiffin. It was a brilliant system as nothing ever went to waste and everything was reuseable.
“Since opening Indian Summer I’ve always had the idea of introducing a tiffin club for my members and the arrival of the new 30kWh LEAF has allowed me to make it happen.
“The vast majority of Brighton people are very environmentally conscious and I’m sure they’re going to love the idea of having a quality Indian meal delivered in a reusable, green container by a zero emissions electric car.”
Indian Summer was founded in 2001 by Minesh Agnihotri (who gave up a career making medical prosthetics) and Byron Swales (whose family was forced to flee Burma in a wooden plane), with a mission to bring authentic cooking to the pair have assembled a brigade of talented chefs drawn from across the regions to offer truly pan-Indian fine dining.
Recent Awards: Brighton & Hove Food Awards, AA Rosette, Harden’s Food Guide, Open table Best Restaurant, Cobra Good Curry Guide Top 100, BIBA – Best in Britain Awards Top 50 2014
Indian Summer, 70 East Street, Brighton BN1 1HQ