WHAT MAKES US DIFFERENT?
With a deep passion for sustainable industry practices, community engagement and high quality produce, we constantly challenge for better. We want to give every person the impression of 'increase' by bringing empathy and care to our interactions with others. These ideas come from the Japanese concept of "Ikigai" which loosely means your "reason for being".
OUR STORY
THE HUMANS BEHIND IKIGAI
We’re Steph and Dylan, the humans behind Ikigai Cafe, and we made a commitment to try to be Adelaide's first zero-waste cafe.
Here's Steph, Dylan and Greg.
The idea to start our own cafe began in 2017. We’d just signed documents to buy a ski lodge but after a series of events, the sale fell through (we’ll still buy a small place in Hakuba and you can visit!).
The drive to start our own business and our experience in hospitality led us to investigate buying a coffee shop.
By talking to the right people at the right time, we were offered tenancy in a development site at Lightsview. Of course, we accepted and our plans for Ikigai Cafe started!
Over the years, we have become more aware of and embraced a healthier lifestyle.
By opening our minds, we started exploring over-consumption and began thinking: when you throw something away - there’s no ‘away’! We're just burying our waste in our home, and this just isn’t right.
This is our reason for being - our ikigai. We believe in living consciously to help our earth, not destroy it. That's why whatever we take from the earth we put back into it by separating scraps into the chook feed, and by home and commercial composting. If you want some, flick us a message!
We believe that health is more than what you eat, it's also the environment that you live in. We're a long way off from being a zero-waste cafe but we do our best with what we've got.
Bring your reusable cup, join us for a coffee and let’s share this ikigai.
WHY IKIGAI?
Ikigai (生き甲斐) is a Japanese concept that means "a reason for being".
Think of it as; the reason why you get up each day; your purpose; and your formula for happiness and meaning.