The Brasserie Market, now open at Cricket Square, is already drawing accolades for its made to order sandwiches and salads from local workers grown used to relying on the Sunshine Cart in the lobby of Cricket Square’s Century Yard.

Owned and operated by the same team behind the Brasserie restaurant, the concept behind the Market is quick, healthy food for those with little time to spare for lunch.

Owner Lisa Flowers was on the creative side of the project, and says the idea for the Market was sown when the Sunshine Cart’s business got a little too good.

“The Brasserie was developed for business clients and executives seeking a place to conduct business lunches,” she said.

“We opened the Sunshine Cart for support staff who needed a place to pop in and grab a lunch, or a coffee.”

But the cart’s setup was not ideal, particularly since it was quite a distance from the kitchen. Often, the baked goods would be sold out by early morning, while sandwiches and salads had to be premade.

Then an opportunity arose for a change.

“We needed to renovate the kitchen at the Brasserie and we thought it would provide a good opportunity to expand on the cart,” said Ms Flowers.

Executive Chef Dean Max developed the concept with Lisa’s husband King. The team met with kitchen and restaurant designer Larry Bogdanow who had previously helped them with some acoustic work at the restaurant, and designer Tanya Melich.

The team travelled to New York and visited busy downtown lunchtime hotspots for inspiration, played out in the salad station and decision to bring in organic custom roasted Barrington coffee, couriered down to Cayman each week from the Berkshires in Massachusetts.

The end result, a bright and airy whitewashed space is definitely pleasing to the eye but there is more to the Market than just good looks.

The little vases of wheat grass on each tabletop may be an early clue that something green is going on.

“The eco concept came into play for me, as anyone who has lived in Cayman for any time is aware of the waste issue,” said Mrs. Flowers.

“The dump is just growing bigger and bigger, waste management is a concern for everybody, everywhere in the world, not just here,” she said.

“Knowing this would be largely a takeout place we wanted to make sure the products we used like the takeaway clamshells and cutlery were not going to contribute to the waste problem.”

Mrs. Flowers worked with Chris Weaver of Island Supplies on sourcing the food containers and utensils, which are all made of biodegradable soy, corn and sugarcane.

“He does not stock a lot of these items as he says they are not popular because they are a little more expensive but we decided to take the plunge,” said Mrs. Flowers.

“I said let’s do it and maybe we will be able to create interest. If demand goes up the price will go down.”

She also made an effort to carry fresh produce, some of which is grown right next door in the Brasserie’s vegetable garden. Her husband got so enthusiastic with the planting, said Mrs. Flowers, there are now fruit trees and vegetables growing in the parking lot where there was once mere grass.

Local horticultural gurus Joel Walton and Margaret Barwick assisted in creating the extensive vegetable garden, where the kitchen waste is used to create compost.

“It all goes together, all these aspects are as part of the same thing,” said Mrs. Flowers.

‘We are trying to do our best to forge a greener way to run a restaurant.”