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The purpose of our Zero Waste Cafe is to help get more local, seasonal, affordable produce to people, support local growers, reduce food waste and packaging, reduce the need for travel, help the environment and celebrate food and community!

Each week you can find us visiting villages around the island. Watch the video below to find our more about what to expect at our Zero Waste Cafe.

Every week we bring our cafe selection which includes homemade soup and bread from Blackwater Bakehouse, home baking and refreshments.

Our Zero Waste Cafe Shop

Our Cafe also has a shop section that allows people to fill up their own containers from zero waste dispensers which currently stocks:

• red/green/puy lentils
• broth mix
• white/brown basmati rice
• arborio rice
• macaroni
• wholewheat pasta
• jumbo oats

• porridge oats
• white/wholegrain flour
• butter beans
• spelt flour
• polenta
• semolina
• dried chickpeas

Where possible our products are ethically sourced and are as local as we can get them, mostly from the UK/Scotland.

We will try to make local produce available each week. The veg offering will change with the seasons and aims to support local growers to get their produce out into the local community and to help people reduce their food miles.

We are supported by North Ayrshire council to make tinned items and dry goods available at a subsidised cost to help our community with the Cost of Living crisis. All of the food on offer at the cafe is available on a discreet guided donation basis.

To date (January 2026) we have served over 1400 litres of soup and 6500 slices of cake. We’ve also provided 19,200 tinned items and over 2.3 tonnes of dry goods to the Arran community at low cost.

You can also browse through our selection of second-hand cookbooks from our community shop in Whiting Bay. In addition, you’ll find plenty of inspiring titles to try at home!

You can now access freezers stocked every fortnight with Food Share items at our Zero Waste Cafés in Lochranza, Corrie, Shiskine and Pirnmill. No appointment needed, just pop in and help yourself.

Why have a Zero Waste Cafe?

The purpose of the Zero Waste Cafe is to help get more local, seasonal, affordable produce to people, support local growers, reduce food waste and packaging, reduce the need for travel, help the environment and celebrate food and community.

We communicate often with the Arran Food Bank to make sure that we support them where we can so please be assured that we are not taking anything away from other services. The Zero Waste Cafe is about reducing waste and helping the environment.

The Zero Waste Cafe has been made possible through funding and support from Inspiring Scotland, North Ayrshire Council and the National Lottery.

In addition, the cafe makes use of Eco Savvy’s electric van to transport the goods and equipment meaning that even the transport is as environmentally friendly as possible.

Who is it for?

EVERYBODY!

Come along and get seasonal, local, healthy, affordable food in your local community. We hope the cafe will reduce food miles, waste and packaging. But the main reason we have started the Zero Waste Cafe is because we want to celebrate food!

Where can I find the cafe?

Our monthly schedule is posted on our What’s On page and can also be found in our social media channels.

In the future…

We host regular events and pop ups at our cafes. Stay tuned through our what’s on page for more announcements about collaborations and upcoming events!

We would also love to hear what you’d like to see at the cafe. For example, you can tell us what we should stock or whether there are specific events you’d be interested in.

We would love to see you at the Zero Waste Cafe – please do pop in for a chat and some nice food!

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