Langhoff & Juul

Jonas Langhoff is the driving force behind Langhoff & Juul: a small restaurant in the centre of Aarhus and a Hotel in the town of Ebeltoft 40 mins drive outside Aarhus.

Both the restaurant and the hotel are run by the same principle: Time is the most important resource we have.
The principle of time as a resource is simple: If you have enough time you will do a better job when you are doing it, be better prepared, be more aware in each moment that you interact with the customers and you will not deplete your other resources and get stressed and injured. You will on the other hand enjoy the work, find new and smarter ways of doing things and not least have time to reflect on the work and as a result be able to take on a much more individual responsibility of your tasks.

The practical way of providing more time to do all these things is to cut down opening hours, the restaurant is open only 3 nights a week: Thursday, Friday and Saturday, and in the off-season, the hotel is only open on the weekends.

This of course means that the revenue is lower than what could be achieved with a full week opening plan, but then the staff would be just as busy as in all other restaurants, and the objective of having enough “time” would not be met. The restaurant also put a cap on the number of guests, so the maximum number for people is 35, even though the room and kitchen could probably serve 70 people.

No one at Langhoff & Juul should work more than 30 hours a week, and if they do so in peak periods the management team will come up with solutions for bringing it down to the preferred weekly workload.

Circular Strategy: Regenerate

Country: Denmark

Local ecological food in season

The menus in both the restaurant and the hotel are made from 12 seasons - with even more microseasons. This means that a local supplier might have one harvest of a special vegetable in one week of the year and then that is on the menu that week.

One example is a nearby farm with a forest area that is untouched by man the whole year, and then one week a year, they hunt the game and slaughter it. In these few weeks, the restaurant and the hotel can serve this very special wild game on their menu.

Small decisions like this are made all the time to get the best possible quality, and very few compromises are made in terms of ecological and sustainable production methods.

All this is reflected in the menu and the storytelling done by the staff. Since the number of customers is kept down to 35 guests at the time the chefs themselves are able to serve the food. The social dinner concept allows them to serve the food on dishes and so they have time to serve also. This saves on staff and two people can easily cook for and serve 150 people in one day.

The guests have the opportunity to ask about the food and the storytelling is a big part of the attraction when dining there.

80% of the produce is locally sourced and almost 100% is ecological.

Economic impact
The high and uncompromising quality and local food can accommodate a high price.

But, it would be much cheaper to create the same experience using non-local, non-ecological produce, but again this goes against the basic principles of the business: It should be possible to run a successful business serving the right kinds of raw materials, the right way, by people who are feeling good doing it!

Social impact
Supporting local ecological producers keeps them in business and allows others to also enjoy the best and most sustainable food available.
Menus are made in accordance with the seasons of the raw materials and not the other way round.

Environmental impact
The sustainability of the production of the raw materials has a great environmental impact. Only food grown in accordance with ecological and sustainable principles finds their way to the tables in Langhoff & Juul

Human resources
Active, devoted and trained staff in the business.

Financial resources
Buying and preparing food like this is not cheap.
Event switching to a slightly more mainstream supplier of lets say mineral water and sodas, would save the restaurant a huge amount of money a year, but again the principles are stronger, and the main purpose of the restaurant is not to make money, but to serve the best quality available, and this is also why the customers keep coming back.

Other resources
Food grown in accordance with ecological and sustainable principles finds their way to the tables in Langhoff & Juul.