https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/grow-in-gredients--3#/
InDemand
GROW in.gredients
Austin's zero waste local grocery needs infrastructure investment to keep the doors open and thrive.
$30,928 USD total funds raised
101% funded on March 6, 2017
in.gredients is a zero waste neighborhood grocery store, beer garden and community hub in East Austin. After more than four years as a leader in sustainability and the local food economy, we need to raise $30,000 for strategic infrastructure investments. Over 50 of our local vendors and fellow small businesses have rallied behind us by donating products, classes, tastings, tours & parties for campaign perks so that we may keep our doors open and secure our future in this rapidly growing city.
in.gredients is a one-of-a-kind neighborhood grocer and beer garden located in Austin, TX. Over the last four-and-a-half years of doing business, we've established ourselves as a cornerstone of the community, leading by example in zero waste, local sourcing and civic engagement.
In that same period, the cost of doing business has risen dramatically, threatening our continued existence.
After losing so many beloved gems in Austin, we didn't want to succumb to the pressures of our growing city without first giving our community a chance to help us weather this storm. That's why we're asking you to support us at this critical juncture in our development. We are confident that some key investments - made possible by this campaign - will put us on a path to financial stability over the long term. Please consider contributing to help us keep our doors open and sustain our commitment to zero waste and the local food economy for many years to come.
The three pillars of our ethos that define who we are and what we do are zero waste, local food and community engagement. As a triple bottom line business, we approach each of these areas with a holistic understanding of our impact on others (people), the environment (planet) and our own financial sustainability (profit). We believe that businesses can and should play an integral and leading part in solving the pressing and complex social, economic and environmental challenges of our time.
We don't have a dumpster
We've honed in on a business model that results in sending a mere 5-6 pounds of trash to the landfill in an average month. Compared to the average American's statistical 5-6 pounds of trash sent to the landfill per day, we're proud of what we've accomplished. As daunting as this may sound, it ultimately comes down to a daily practice of sorting and allocating our unusables to their next highest use. We encourage our vendors to deliver their products in reusable containers and return the empties in exchange, offer compostable or recyclable containers for in.house prepared foods, incorporate our spent coffee grounds into our garden soil, donate mushy or bruised produce to a local petting zoo (tortoises love peaches!) and compost the moldy stuff.
We incentivize and encourage packaging reuse with our unique "Bring Your Own Container" tare station and non-profit donation programming, diverting upwards of 8 tons of material from the waste stream since we opened, with more than 34,000 containers reused by our customers. We've sent zero pounds of food waste to the landfill since day one.
About 70% of customer revenue stays in the local economy
We're committed to doing everything we can to build a more robust and resilient local food system. We support dozens of local farmers and ranchers who eschew the use of harmful petro-chemicals in their growing practices and embrace the methods of organic and sustainable agriculture. We prioritize and support small-scale makers, and we have helped many get their start and go on to very successful operations.
Our diligence allows us to put upwards of 70% of our customers' dollars into the local economy, compared to a mere 13% at box stores and 47% at most locally owned businesses.
We've helped dozens of nonprofit organizations raise money and awareness
The cornerstone of our BYOC incentive program is our non-profit community partnership. Every six months, we ask our customers to help us choose a different Austin non-profit to support for a period of six months, during which time we donate 5 cents every time a customer reuses a container. Additionally, we donate a portion of every first Friday's sales, and help promote their mission and enhance their network at our First Friday Block Parties.
In addition to selling groceries, we are a local beer garden. We even have a garden next to our seating area where Farmer Sue grows produce that we sell in the store! You can literally drink a local brew, observe what produce is in season in the garden, then go home and eat dinner made from produce from that same garden.
When you visit in.gredients, you are likely to stumble upon a gardening workshop, cooking class, DIY product demo, exercise in civic engagement or perhaps a square dance. Some say we have the best porch in town.
One thing we've learned over the years is the value of our physical space. Families love congregating here with their kids and pets to enjoy our playground, garden and local food offerings. Musicians use our porch as a space to share their art with our patrons and passers-by. Community organizations appreciate our space as a place to host fundraisers and info sessions. Many of our desired improvements are focused on increasing the year-round viability of this kind of foot traffic, which is the most significant factor towards meeting our daily revenue goals.
- Weatherize Our Covered Seating - Austin has a wonderful climate but 4-6 months out of the year, it's either too hot or too cold/wet for an outdoor space like ours to reliably make sense for our customers. By adding commercial (wind-powered) electric heaters and vinyl siding, we can make our space friendly through the colder and wetter months. And by investing in a commercial pump, we can improve our misting system to make our space more comfortable during the very hot summer months.
- Improving Our Playground - Families are a huge component of our customer base. Parents (including some on our own staff) quite often mention that they'd love to see us invest in our playground. We hear you! We plan to make improvements to the structure itself, add some new elements and improve the ground cover.
- Landscaping Improvements - We love having a garden on our property, but there's so much more we could do with our physical space. Planting more perennials, including fruit trees like citrus and persimmon, would allow us to offer more seasonal and affordable fruit. Additional trees could also provide much needed shade for certain areas. Heavy rains tend to flood our yard and back door - some strategic earthworks and drainage improvements could help retain more water and prevent damaging flooding.
- Espresso Offerings - We hear multiple times a day that y'all want espresso drinks. With these funds, we can finally make the jump and invest in the equipment and training necessary to make this happen.
- Expanded Beer/Wine Selection - With our limited tap selection, we often don't have the same thing on tap for more than a day or two. While many customers appreciate this, it also makes it hard to please the customers who prefer consistency and variety. We'd love to introduce more taps so we can consistently carry more of Austin's amazing craft beer (and wine and kombucha!). The revenue from alcohol sales is a major factor in offsetting the higher cost of ethical business operations.
- Zero Waste Office Snacks - We've begun to roll out a program that offers our local and zero waste offerings to Austin offices looking to provide their employees with some healthy snack options. We call this "in.gredients pantry" and we're eager to help more offices go zero waste. A few simple investments can help us roll this out more quickly and more effectively, adding a valuable revenue stream to our business model.
If you dig what we're doing here in East Austin, we hope you'll support our efforts. There are three primary ways to help:
Whatever level of contribution you can make, this campaign will be successful when hundreds (thousands?!) of us come together and put our money towards something we believe belongs in this community. Whether you donate $5 or $500, you can help GROW in.gredients.
A personal touch can make all the difference. If you have a network that believes in our triple bottom line ethos, tell them about our campaign and give them an opportunity to be a part of this movement.
We wouldn't be in business if fans, supporters and neighbors didn't regularly patronize our shop on Manor Road. Now more than ever, your in-store patronage is important to our success. Come by with friends, host a meeting or gathering here, or reach out about throwing a party or fundraiser here.
We've had more than 40 brilliant and beautiful people work behind our counter over the years. Over time, the in.gredients team and alumni have become something of a family, often returning to work after time away or supporting us as regular customers. There's no question that our team has been one of the most valuable aspects of the community we've worked so hard to build.
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