At Beer & Napkins, we believe that the best ideas don’t start in boardrooms—they start in community spaces, over conversations, and through hands-on collaboration. That’s why we are thrilled to co-host the Greenville Service Jam 2025, a 48-hour global innovation sprint where participants will brainstorm, prototype, and test real-world solutionsusing human-centered design.
This event aligns perfectly with our Napkins to Prototype (N2P) Initiative, which is all about taking raw ideas and turning them into tangible, actionable solutions through rapid experimentation, creativity, and collaboration.
What is the Global Service Jam?
The Global Service Jam is a worldwide event happening simultaneously in cities across the globe. Teams form around a secret theme and work through design thinking and rapid prototyping to develop innovative services and solutions.
Greenville last participated in 2013, and now we’re bringing it back with new energy and new ideas.
Why You Should Join
Work with a diverse group of innovators, designers, and entrepreneurs
Develop hands-on skills in service design, prototyping, and creative problem-solving
Engage with mentors, business leaders, and like-minded thinkers from across the community
Be part of a global movement where ideas turn into action
Whether you are a seasoned entrepreneur, an aspiring designer, a student eager to learn, or simply someone who loves solving problems, this is your chance to create something impactful.
Event Details
📍 Location: Synergy Mill, Greenville, SC 📅 Dates: February 21-23, 2025 🔗 Register Now:Sign Up Here
At Beer & Napkins, we are committed to building a community of creative doers. Join us for this incredible experience and help shape the future of innovation in Greenville.
How to Get Involved
Register for the Jam and be part of this hands-on design challenge
Mentor emerging talent and share your expertise with the next generation of innovators
Sponsor or support the event to help make it an even bigger success
Spots are limited, so secure yours today. We can’t wait to jam with you!
DESPINA joined us from her sister Antonia’s Chicago kitchen on February 21. She advocated shucking the rules so that we can all RE- learn to play with our food. She believes that, beyond feeding our hunger, a kitchen is also a place where different challenges give us opportunities to express our creativity. “The kitchen is where I support my friends,” she said. “It’s where I show my stepchildren that I love them and where I honor my family’s cultural traditions. Yes, my creative space is my kitchen!”
This took place a few years ago. My husband, Dewey, and I are preparing dinner for our granddaughters. The oldest, Corley, is about 7 or 8. We have soup ready to go, and we’re getting everything ready for grilled cheese sandwiches. Counting out the bread slices, we had just enough plus one slice, but upon close inspection, we realized that three of our slices had big holes in them. GASP! Just a gas bubble that had built up during the proofing and baking of the bread, but how to make grilled cheese sandwiches with a big hole in the bread? The cheese would melt and ooze out!
Dewey and I were ready for one of us to run to the store for more bread. After a full day at work, dinner should be easy. We were programmed for fun and relaxation, not problem-solving.
Enter Corley. She was still young enough to be truly open-minded. She is still young enough to apply skills learned in one area of her young life to another. “Why don’t you just tear up the extra slice to fill in the holes,” she said, “just like we do with Play-Doh.”
How Playing with Food Inspires Creativity
At a very early age, we are encouraged to play with our food in our high chairs! Studies indicate that playing with food encourages sensory development. As we begin to use a fork and spoon, the expectations change. We must now learn new rules. Don’t put your fingers in the food. Eat with your spoon. Wipe your mouth. Don’t play with your food.
Rules. Restrictions. Lots of don’ts. This stuff kills creativity!
The workplace can kill creativity too. Yes, even in a restaurant kitchen. Especially in a restaurant kitchen! In a professional kitchen, we have to produce the menu items consistently. There’s no room for “how about this” or “what if we tried it this way.” The customer wants the same dish, prepared the same way, garnished the same way, and with the same flavor! It’s a very stressful setting, and unless you’re working for a high-end restaurant with lots of kitchen staff, keeping things the same is critical. The only person who is allowed any creative growth is the chef.
That was me 29 years ago. I made it for one year and a few days. I’m happy not to have that kind of stress anymore! It beat the creativity out of me. It can happen in any work setting.
Once I had recovered, I realized I was happier sharing recipes than banking and cooking them. I started a food blog–a creative outlet I have maintained since 2006. I started out slowly, and increased to bi-monthly and monthly posts. Later I managed to post every other week. Now I try (I do have other demands) TRY to post weekly with time off for holidays. Currently, there are over 61,000 views of my blog.
Today, I play with food all the time!
HOW CAN I PLAY WITH MY FOOD?
Remove the phrases I don’t know and I can’t.
Forget the fear. Let it go. It’s like doing a crossword with a pen! Move forward boldly. What can go wrong? Really?
Plan ahead. Measure everything and group the ingredients that will be combined. Typically things like dry ingredients are mixed, sugar and butter are combined first for a cake, oil and onions/peppers/garlic (aromatics), and so on.
You don’t need a recipe. SO true, but people are afraid of this more than anything else. You know that you can make a salad without a recipe, right? Of course. Well, it’s the same concept as cookery. You must know a few basic things: Heat the pan first before adding oil, dry meat, fish, or shrimp with a paper towel before adding to a hot pan. (Cold pan or moist protein will cause sticking like the devil!) Add herbs at the end for a fresh flavor pop; dry herbs and spices at the beginning. You almost always begin with onions. Don’t add the garlic until the onions are almost done. (Garlic can burn and turn bitter, so don’t give it too much time in a hot pan before adding liquids.) After browning the meat, you can deglaze the pan by adding any of the following: wine, stock, broth, tomatoes with juice, and onions.
A recipe can be good (it’s a formula for success), BUT you don’t always need one. If you’re baking a cake, you need a recipe. It’s crucial. Surprisingly, if you have the essential knowledge (ratio of baking powder to flour, number of eggs and sugar in a typical recipe), then you can create your OWN recipe from that. You decide on flavors. You decide if it will be a layered cake or if you’ll cut it into squares, pour chocolate over each square and serve it on individual plates with whipped cream and toasted almonds. Adding salt and pepper to the pot is the same as adding them to your plate. You add what seems appropriate, taste, and adjust. It’s as easy as that.
Your imagination and experience in tasting food combinations all of your life have prepared you for creativity in the kitchen.
HAVE YOU NOTICED?
Many creative people have their finger in several projects:
TONY BENNET: Singer & artist. He built a new following by collaborating with younger singers like Lady Gaga.
JACQUES PEPIN: Chef, cookbook author, artist. Jacques sees beyond the kitchen to the front of his restaurants. Every menu is hand-drawn by Jacques, as are many illustrations in his books.
I believe that we learn in one creative endeavor we can apply to another. Creative problem-solving in the kitchen prepares us for the office, for backpacking on a remote trail, for planning a big event–for just about anything.
REMEMBER:
Forget the Fear
Plan Ahead
You don’t need a Recipe
A Recipe Can be Good (it’s a formula for success), BUT you can create your OWN.
FOLLOW UP READING
Babette’s Feast by Isak Dinesen (one of the stories in her book Seven Gothic Tales)
Also, a movie. In Danish with subtitles. Available on Amazon Prime Video.
The Creative Act: A Way of Being by Rick Rubin I recommend the audio version, which is like being led in meditation. A very Zen-like experience. I’m listening to it currently, just letting wash over me for now.
Experiencing collective in-person events has always been the catalyst of the Beer and Napkins Community. One of our last live events was in January 2020, presciently titled The VUCA Sessions: Navigating and Embracing Chaos; little did we know of the things we were to experience in the last few years. Of course, we pivoted and adapted to technology like many other communities. Our intimate VUCA group discussions help us thrive amidst such an isolating dynamic. This adaption and evolution of the use of emerging approaches to enhance our experiences will be ongoing. However, the spirit of camaraderie, the clinking of mugs, the tactile exercise of scribbling on a napkin will not be forgotten and permeates everything we do. AI is an exciting metaphor for using technology to support the creative spirit. Artificial Intelligence will continue to infuse in all we do. For example, a friend of mine, Dave Gray, introduced me to MidJourney AI, where AI-generated art is produced with descriptive words and phrases. As an artist, we can either adopt or reject creatively. I have adopted and used this to support my artistic endeavors (See AI art produced with sketching in pubs as some keywords). The same thought can be applied to Beer and Napkins, using technology to enhance the community experience. We are excited about the possibilities.
As we move onward, the Beer and Napkins community will continue to brew ideas for the Future, virtually or in person. We will leverage our third places, technology, and talent network to support idea development within our community and beyond.
Scholarships available for their new GVL Starts Entrepreneurship Program
Beer and Napkins is excited to be supporting Furman University’s Institute for Innovation and Entrepreneurship GVL Starts. For a program overview, please visit https://www.furman.edu/innovation-entrepreneurship/programs/gvl-starts/ or for more information, contact [email protected]
The Institute will give a 50% scholarship to the first 5 who apply (so it would only be $149). Just enter “50% Beer and Napkins Scholarship” in question 18/last question of the application. For application, visit https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/GVLSTARTS
