Carrotmob Update: Hotlips TRIPLES Sales for Sustainability by: torridjoe Tue Jun 23, 2009 at 13:09:15 PM PDT

The first carrotmob in Portland, on this past Father's Day, turned out to be a huge success. (What's a carrotmob? It's positive economic activity designed to incentivize micro-efforts at small business sustainability, but this post and video by reader Liz makes it a lot more fun than my dry description).  The Joe family came and supped, and it was good. There was free live music, free buttons, sales on Hotlips mersh (including a 25% discount on their awesome fruit sodas), and there were dollars--100% of the profits, a huge effort by Hotlips Hawthorne--going towards projects to reduce their carbon footprint and use energy more efficiently. Who wins? Everybody! Thus the power of the carrotmob. It wasn't just a success because I dragged my family up I-5 on Father's Day to support it; the kids at Central Catholic who helped organize it definifely got the word out. Here, let them tell it (and you can get all the Twitter/Facebook 411 from this link as well): WE MADE $6316, AND ALL OF IT IS GOING TO MAKE THE STORE MORE ENERGY EFFICIENT! Consider that on an average Sunday, they make about $2000-2500. Sundays are normally slow, and most of the business comes in the evening. At 3 or 4 in the afternoon, the employees were saying that they had about four times the business they ordinarily have by that time. This is what HOTLIPS will try to do with the money: Install a new gasket for the door to the commissary Seal the envelope between the commissary and the prep kitchen Install an additional copper loop in the front oven at the Hawthorne location Install a copper loop for the 33rd and Killingsworth location Install motion sensors for lights Install variable speed controls for exhaust and ventilation system Who loses in this? Nobody. Hotlips is already a well-loved business in Portland, not only for their good food but their social consciousness. So patronizing them is something many people do willingly and repeatedly. The store covered all their costs and then some for a typical Sunday (advice for next time--don't do it on a "holiday" where other choices abound!), and got seed money for improvements that will reduce their costs for many days afterwards. And the planet got a little break on its resources, when every little break helps. Mighty carrot! Major kudos to everyone who made this happen, and I hope the success makes for more Mob events. Congratulations, Portland! You know a good thing when you see it.

torridjoe :: Carrotmob Update: Hotlips TRIPLES Sales for Sustainability

Tags: activism, conscious consumerism, green movement, Hotlips Pizza, Reverse Boycott, Carrotmob, (All Tags)

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