Hi friends!
My company’s taken a huge leap toward opening the first package-free, zero-waste grocery store in the US this week! Our fundraising campaign has begun, and we’re pumped to be kicking things off.
Cat and I are extra excited about this since in.gredients has been a work in progress for over six months. After sifting through handfuls of conceptual ideas, we’ve finally made it to the “going public” stage. A little backstory…as my colleagues (some successful entrepreneurs and good friends) and I continued trying to reduce waste in our homes, we kept running into one problem spot: food packaging. And when we looked into how much food packaging contributes to overall waste streams – and how unnecessary that really is – we (passionately!) brainstormed what we could do to fix things. And in addition to starting a blog, my company decided to go the extra mile (or hundreds of miles…phew) to start a grocery store that did things right.
Here’s the scoop on in.gredients from Addie Broyles, food writer for the Austin American-Statesman‘s Relish Austin blog:
“A group of Austinites is hoping to open a zero-waste grocery store in East Austin this fall that, unlike traditional stores, doesn’t sell food in disposable packaging.
Customers at in.gredients will be asked to bring in their own containers or use the store’s reusable ones to buy items shipped in bulk instead of pre-packaged in boxes, bags or plastic.
In.gredients has started getting the word out about the project through its website, Twitter account and Facebook page.
Marketing director Brian Nunnery says that in order to open store as planned in October, they need to meet several fundraising goals before then. They have started taking contributions through IndieGoGo, but will be hosting other fundraising events later in the year.”
It’s been awesome to see how many folks care about sustainable living and want to jump on board! So if you love the idea, check out in.gredients online – and better yet, donate to our IndieGoGo campaign! We’ve got to complete our final lap (fundraising) in order to start up by year’s end.
Love you all – and here’s to good food!
