JENS DOLK

I’ve never been afraid of weird ideas. In fact, that’s kind of the point with K-märkt. When we started, we didn’t just want to run a great restaurant – we wanted to challenge the entire way restaurants operate. Why? Because if we’re going to make food more sustainable, we can’t keep doing things the traditional way.

So we got rid of the menu. Yes – no à la carte, no printed daily lists. Instead, we offer “Chef’s Choice”, based entirely on what quality ingredients we’ve saved from being thrown away. The kitchen decides, the guest trusts – and it works.

Then we flipped the restaurant model on its head: we serve food “backwards”. First green cooked and flavoured dishes, then in the end the protein. That way, guests fill their plates more consciously – which is better for their health and for the planet. We also charge by weight, not by portion. It makes people think before they pile up their plates. That’s how we fight food waste – not with signs or lectures, but by letting the guest be part of the solution.

Innovation doesn’t have to be complicated – but it does need courage. Like when we took unused disposable plates from other companies and used them in our own restaurants instead of letting them go to waste. Or when we collected leftover wine from high-end tastings and turned it into the world’s best sauce.

And then there’s culture. You can’t innovate without people. At K-märkt, we added something we call “Mood Managers” to our team. Not DJs or yoga teachers – but individuals with Down Syndrome who, alongside their core tasks, uplift the team spirit in a way no leadership book could teach you.

It’s about breaking norms, not for the sake of being edgy – but because it works.

We didn’t follow trends – we helped create them. Back in 2014, the word “food waste” was ugly. Today, it’s a badge of honour. People call you a hero for doing what we’ve always done. So yeah – thanks for the timing.

But maybe it wasn’t luck. Maybe it was just a bunch of weird ideas that turned out to be right.

Jens Dolk is a sommelier, restaurateur, entrepreneur andco-founder of K-märkt – one of Sweden’s most sustainable andunconventional restaurant brands. With a passion for challengingnorms and creating circular solutions, Jens mixes hospitality,humour and hands-on innovation to make sustainability not justpossible, but commercially successful.