For us, sustainability is not a label you add somewhere as an afterthought. It starts right at the beginning — with the question of where our ingredients come from, who grows them, and how long we have been working together.
Many discussions around food revolve around anonymous supply chains, changing origins, and a lack of accountability. We have made a conscious choice to take a different path: with fixed producers, clear provenance, and long-term relationships.

Our ingredients come from specific regions — from people we know. From the vineyard to the mustard field, we work with producers who have often been part of our process for many years. One example is our vinegar: the Riesling comes from an organic winemaker we have worked with for years. From exactly this wine, our own vinegar is produced in the Black Forest — without anonymous middlemen, without changing origins. Our mustard seed also comes from German contract farming. On our mustards, the origin is printed directly on the label. This makes it traceable exactly where your product was grown. This is what a supply chain can look like when it is not built on short-term price optimisation, but on reliability, quality, and mutual trust.

For us, sustainability also means making decisions that don't always pay off immediately, but feel right in the long run. Many of our partnerships have existed for years. Some since the very first jar. Because we believe that good food can only come about when responsibility is shared — across harvests, prices, and challenges alike. This is how products come into being that are not interchangeable, but have a story.

Our mustards are traditionally cold-ground between granite stones weighing 500 kg. This preserves the valuable essential oils — for a natural, harmonious flavour. Our ketchups contain over 80% tomato content and just 12% total sugar. Our dressings are produced without emulsifiers — which is why the oil and vinegar are naturally allowed to separate. We take our time. And we forgo industrial fast-track processes. Short supply chains, clear processes, and full control over what ends up in the jar.

The fact that we are able to make many of these decisions is also down to the fact that we are independent. Emils is 100% founder-owned. There is no investor pushing for rapid scaling or maximum margins. This means we can decide what is right for us — not what is cheapest.

We know that we are not perfect either. But we believe that honest steps, transparent decisions, and long-term thinking are the right way forward. And that is exactly what we are working on — one jar at a time.