We had the good fortune of connecting with Piper Klee-Waddle and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Piper, how do you think about risk?
Risk-taking is the linchpin for entrepreneurs. If you are not open to taking a chance you will miss the most unique and seemingly mundane opportunities. It’s also what keeps us up at night and what makes it hard for others to relate to us.

Can you give our readers an introduction to your business? Maybe you can share a bit about what you do and what sets you apart from others?
My business is Urban Dirt Co. It is a culinary gardening landscape business that designs, builds, and maintains food gardens for restaurants, hotels, and corporate campus sites. We have several residential accounts but mostly we manage the culinary crops for the corporate accounts. They are generally billed as “green amenities” but are also small production gardens for the chef and restaurant attached to the site. most o the gardens are constructed raised beds but we have a few commercial planters on patios and rooftops. The challenge is growing food crops in the city and in less than optimal locations. It’s a big deal to get enough sun in the urban setting so location is a huge consideration in installation and design. If I connect the dots to how I got to where I am it would start with local growers. I partnered with several growers to learn about growing for chefs. From there I introduced my business of chef gardens to restaurant owners and then word of mouth to property developers interested in green amenities. It’s a unique service with both promotional appeal for businesses and a practical local growing option for chefs.

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
I would start out with a farm tour of the growers that supply many of the best restaurants in Dallas. I would cruz by several of the farm to table restaurants off the beaten path. Maybe a Deep Elim brewery and a few really great farmers markets. (Dallas, Coppel)

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
My shoutout would be to the growers and farmers that allowed me to learn from them and meet their clients, chefs and restaurant owners that eventually purchased gardens from my company. The second is all the business books and sales training I received during my 15 years in corporate America. it was extremely valuable career time and I’m glad I work as hard as I did. Now I’m glad I had the mindset to take the risk to start my own small business.

Website: www.UrbanDirtCompany.com
Instagram: @UrbanDirtco
Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/piper-klee-waddle-6a3bb6b/

Image Credits
Photos are original and owned by Urban Dirt Co. Use as need.

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