The 75%...The Gringos Project, Day 1

We have been given a goal.  75%.  Of what?  I sat with Adam and Brian at Gringo's on Camperdown and we had a somewhat brief, yet long conversation.  How does this conversation somehow exist and how can it be both long and short?  It was one of those conversations where the initial question is posed, then there is a quick answer, then the remainder of the conversation is simply simultaneous head nodding at the ideas that we have both had that are so incredibly simple and similar.

So we are going to take this restaurant and give it a green makeover.  Our goal is to decrease the amount of waste by 75%.  We are going to develop systems that they can use to save time, money, space and the environment.  I consider myself fairly eloquent, but this was one case where I did not have to use  a lot of words, especially since I was dealing with Adam Bennett and preaching to the choir, so to speak. We both come from places where this is commonplace so we are not doing anything different, it is only different for Greenville.

Within the next week, I am going to spend some time with his staff and look at ways to minimize waste.  We are also going to embrace the things that are going to inevitably spring from this, like how to deal with building owners and city hall.  This is going to be fun.

Day 1...A lot of thought.  We have been poring over designs and ideas all day and creating what amounts to a wish list of things we would like to do.  Experience teaches that there needs to be a structure to things before getting really deeply involved so today is about brainstorming and design for the rooftop garden.  The earthbox design was specifically requested.  It is low maintenance and miserly with water. Combine that with the fact that we can mass produce them pretty easily and we are off and running.

Today was met with the idea that this is going to take a lot of looking and adjusting to things on the fly.  We are all about solving problems though and the only thing that was not on the table for this whole project, was doubt.  Follow along.