Restaurang Tullhuset
We’ve initiated a raft of measures to ensure that our business entails as little unnecessary environmental impact as possible: To keep non-essential long journeys with a negative environmental impact to a minimum, our marketing primarily targets people and businesses in the area. Our main target groups are residents here on the Öckerö islands, and people in and just outside Gothenburg. To encourage guests from further afield to stay longer we collaborate with nearby accommodation – Hotell Trubaduren, Havskatten and Nimbusgården on the islands as well as hotels in Gothenburg.
Basically we are a fish and shellfish restaurant with vegetarian elements, which means that our carbon footprint is relatively low. We’ve also started small scale fermentation of Tullhuset’s food waste which will make great compost – we’ll see what that leads to in the future. Where possible our ambition is to buy organic seasonal ingredients, locally grown and produced, and we only buy green electricity.
We also want our business to be good for both residents and visitors. In our eyes the islanders in Öckerö municipality are our most important customers, and people living around us are our primary target group. We create offers and events for them all year round. To make the whole community thrive we business owners need to work together and use each other. We always hire local workmen for example, like Bröderna Berg when we need practical help, and work closely with other tourism businesses such as Lasse and Amanda of Kastor Boat Trips, Svenne at Havskatten and Bosse of Hönö Båtturer. Not forgetting, among many others, Andreas at Öckeröpôjka who delivers the fish to us.
Businesses in Hönö Klåva work together closely to make the destination attractive for both islanders and visitors, and it’s not for nothing we’re called Little Skagen. Public sector collaboration with businesses is also important and creates exposure for us in bigger campaigns, such as the Next to Gothenburg initiative. A Taste of West Sweden is another example; it is a quality mark guaranteeing that guests will be getting the best possible ingredients, produced and made in West Sweden. We have been members since 2020.
Staff are of course the most important component for us. In general we all live nearby which also benefits guests, as we know the local area so well.
Community groups are an important part of society out here on the islands. Tullhuset works closely with several, helping each other out with joint arrangements, sponsoring and different forms of support. To help Öckerö IBK Floorball Club for instance members can eat here during February and October, and Hönö Tennis Club members enjoy competing in the Tullhuset Open with us. Churches also play a meaningful role in the community on Öckerö, helping children, young people and everyone in between – we support their work by teaming up and also making donations when asked.
To attract more visitors when we’re not fully booked, sales and marketing are focused above all on low season. We want more people to experience the charm of our fantastic surroundings all year round, so we also make sure that there are lots of exciting things happening at Tullhuset 12 months of the year. Our vision is to have Tullhuset full the whole year. To achieve that we have employed someone to drive that vision forward, which we hope will give a sustainable long term and more even distribution of guests over the year.
