Enough with “sustainability” | Lost + Found: Solar panels

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Having already shifted the sustainability discussion away from intentions and toward decisions judged by their net result, the series now moves into practices that have been part of how Lost + Found Drinkery operates for more than a decade. Eleven years ago, this particular one emerged from simple math. It’s still treated that way today. Incidentally, it has also proven to be one of the most effective practices in terms of environmental responsibility and ethics.

As the team at Lost + Found explains, the reasoning behind it was purely financial from the start. Buying spirits in larger formats simply costs less per liter and offers clear advantages in stock management. But for a bar owned and run by bartenders rather than purely by business operators, the equation doesn’t stop at purchase price. Oversized bottles don’t work well in real service conditions. They don’t sit properly in speed rails, they slow down service, and they add unnecessary weight and strain to daily work behind the bar.

The solution they landed on back then was straightforward: the liquid is transferred into smaller, ergonomic working bottles designed for speed and accuracy during service. What’s notable is that something that began as a cost-driven decision gradually revealed a series of side benefits that weren’t even part of the original plan.

Down bottling in action

Transferring spirits from large containers into reusable working bottles meant less packaging overall. Fewer shipments. Lower transport costs and emissions. A significantly smaller footprint, and far less waste in consumables. What benefited the environment also showed up clearly on the business’s balance sheet. Directly and undeniably.

These outcomes were never the original goal. But efficiency tends to create a ripple effect. When costs go down, energy consumption often follows. When logistics are simplified, emissions drop as well. Saving resources at one point inevitably affects the system as a whole.

At Lost + Found, down-bottling isn’t treated as a “green” practice that needs explaining or promotion. It’s simply how the bar has always worked. A solution that improves service flow, reduces physical strain on the team, and at the same time cuts unnecessary losses in packaging and transport.

Of course, this approach isn’t equally applicable everywhere. Not every bar has the space, time, or infrastructure to handle down-bottling in-house. In those cases, solutions like ecoSPIRITS can be a viable alternative, where available. ecoSPIRITS, after all, addresses the same practical question with a different tool: how to reduce cost, waste, and unnecessary movement without adding friction to day-to-day operations.

This practice probably captures the spirit of this series better than most. Sustainability doesn’t come from grand statements, but from small, repeated decisions that make the work itself more efficient. In the end, it’s the outcome that matters.