The Tiny Diner and their partners were selected as a winner in the Sustainable Business category at the 2015 Environmental Initiative Awards. This annual program honors innovative projects that have achieved extraordinary environmental results by harnessing the power of partnership.
Tiny Diner is a thriving restaurant located in the Powderhorn community in Minneapolis, Minnesota, that is demonstrating a variety of environmentally sustainable things people can do on a smaller scale. The restaurant includes a solar array covered patio, which has had a significant impact on the climate footprint of the business. Tiny Diner is also capturing 100 percent of rainwater on its site. Tiny Diner worked with Ecological Gardens and the Minnehaha Creek Watershed District to design rain gardens, rain catchments, and food production gardens on the site.
The business also operates a production garden and community space where classes are taught on watersheds, bees, landscaping, composting and more. From its hardscape to its landscape, this Diner was designed to provide a renovated example of whole system design: low impact, educational, and tangibly tasty.
“Collaboration isn’t always easy. This project is a wonderful example of what can be accomplished for our environment and for all Minnesotan’s when we choose to work together,” says Environmental Initiative’s executive director, Mike Harley.
