Intro: Broadcasting live from the Business RadioX Studios in Atlanta, Georgia. It’s time for High Velocity Radio.

Lee Kantor: Lee Kantor here. Another episode of High Velocity Radio and this is gonna be a good one. Today on the show, we have Darryl Dulong with Great American Green. Welcome.

Darryl Dulong: Well, thank you sir. How are you doing?

Lee Kantor: I am doing well. I am so excited to learn what you’re up to. Tell us about Great American Green.

Darryl Dulong: Oh my goodness, where do I start? Well, we kicked off in the centennial of the United States in 1976 and have been doing business for 50 years, and we’re celebrating our 50th anniversary this year, which is really cool. Coincide with everything going on. We started landscaping when I was just barely driving and, uh, been doing it ever since. Family owned graduated up into outdoor kitchens and fancy outdoor landscaping and water features, and we fell into the turf business about 27 years ago, and we’ve been doing turf ever since.

Lee Kantor: So now that is that the primary focus of the business now is.

Darryl Dulong: It is it is.

Lee Kantor: What is backyard turf mean?

Darryl Dulong: Backyard turf. Most people relish their privacy in their backyards. And we provide them with a product that is maintenance free, stays green. Very, very, very few bugs, no watering, no cutting, no weeding. Absolutely maintenance free. And it’s good for about 20 years in people’s backyards. Manufacturer says it’s good for 16, but we’ve been doing it for 27 years and we have yet to replace the landscape, turf product. Anybody that does it, they’re so happy with it. They’re questioning why they didn’t do it earlier. It’s the blessing is to have a product that people buy. They love it and everybody’s happy. And it’s just, it’s just so rewarding after 50 years of being in business to have something that we can give back to, to the customer that’s so enjoyable. It’s just a blessing.

Lee Kantor: So are people using it in residential homes or is this used primarily more for like sports teams or schools or people like that?

Darryl Dulong: Well, it started in the sports field and it graduated itself into residential landscaping, mostly from the West Coast, where arid conditions warranted something different than live grass. So it turned into a product that it has carried itself across the country and worldwide into people’s yards, office buildings, decks, patios, courtyards, playgrounds, you name it. There’s not an area that we have not installed turf. That’s, um, that’s an exceptional product.

Lee Kantor: So now what is like? So are they coming to you and saying, hey, I want turf in my backyard? Or is it something that you kind of have to educate folks about, you know, the pros and cons of switching?

Darryl Dulong: Well, when we started, it was fairly a novelty when we got into it 27 years ago, landscape turf really didn’t have a threshold in the market. It was synthetic putting greens. Uh, and to my understanding, the fringe around the putting green was the grass that a product that looked like grass and people expanded it and got bigger and bigger and eventually ended up into their yards. And it ended up being a solution for areas that grass wouldn’t grow in today’s market. It’s a product that looks entirely real. Uh, and it’s just, um, it’s environmentally friendly. It’s just really a no brainer.

Lee Kantor: So now when you install it in the backyard, are people using it just like they would their normal lawn? Or are they saying, you know, or they set up like, hey, we’re going to put a soccer field up? Or does it work for like tennis? Like, would it work for racket sports as well?

Darryl Dulong: I don’t know, in my experience, I don’t think there’s a turf quite ready for, uh, pickleball or tennis. I mean, it’d be a very slow game. Uh, I’m sure it’s been done. Um, but every other sport out there that you play in the field, it’s exceptionally qualified for people’s backyards. You can take it from around pools, around patios, courtyards, again, anywhere you would expect to find a green space. Uh, and, but with this product, it is a green space that actually stays there. It doesn’t die. It doesn’t wither. It doesn’t, you know, fade with age. It’s just a, it’s a pretty fun product.

Lee Kantor: Now, can pets go on it?

Darryl Dulong: Absolutely. In fact, we’ve done most of the, uh, well, I can’t say most. We’ve done a lot of the, the larger dog parks in the Atlanta area and across the South, uh, where we’ve taken it. It’s in my opinion, it’s the best thing that ever happened to dogs. It’s hypoallergenic. Uh, it massages their skin. In fact, I’ve got two German shepherds and they sleep on it because it stays cool in the house, like tile with air conditioning. It’s just, uh. It is. They love it. They do, uh, nose dive rolls in it, uh, whenever we lay it out in our, in our yard, when we’re getting ready to wrap it up and go to a job site, we have to actually shoo the dogs off of it. So it’s kind of fun.

Lee Kantor: And then like the pee and poop don’t negatively impact it.

Darryl Dulong: The poop you have to pick up, it doesn’t impact the turf any, uh, the shorter the turf, the more prone it is to easily pick up the poop on its. In fact, it’s not really pet friendly. It’s pet owner friendly. Um, it’s just shorter. You know, pet turf is typically short inch and a quarter inch, one inch tall. Um, but the urine goes right through it. And uh, if you have 2 to 3 dogs, you’re not going to have a problem when you have more than that. They usually create a hot spot where they urinate in one spot. And it generally exaggerates the smell. And you can treat that with an enzyme that cleans up like simple green or something like that.

Lee Kantor: So there was a period of time when you were kind of targeting dog parks as, as clients.

Darryl Dulong: Actually, they, they came to us. But, uh, yeah, no, it’s, um, it’s a product that people usually seek us out for. Uh, we’ve been doing it longer than, uh, I think, oh, gosh, longer than most and I’d say longer than anybody in the Atlanta area, but I dare not say that specifically.

Lee Kantor: So now is this, um, your own business or is this a franchise?

Darryl Dulong: Uh, we started off with a franchise, but it’s our own business. We were in the landscaping business, uh, since 1976. Uh, in fact, we, we, we pioneered outdoor kitchens, I think in the 80s, early 80s, which is crazy. Um, we were approached by, uh, Synthetic Turf international. We created ourselves as the franchise owner for that product in the Atlanta area, Atlanta market. And, um, we, we slipped out of that due to different reasons that really wasn’t taking off because it was just putting greens back then. Uh, but when the, when the market switched to synthetic lawns, uh, they’re approached us and we got in, in, um, in the sights of some of the manufacturers across, across the country. Uh, we represented at least 8 or 9 different manufacturers for the product, uh, ranging from shot SDI to Act global, you name it. It was, it was, it was quite the threshold of experience, to say the least. Um, and now that’s all we do is synthetic turf.

Lee Kantor: So tell us about this, uh, Decatur watch fest.

Darryl Dulong: Ah, Decatur Watch Fest is the celebration of the World Cup for sure, as it is across the country or across the world, for that matter. Um, we established what they call a mini pitch, which this mini soccer field, uh, for the small kids to play on. And it’s, there’s two areas down there. Decatur mini, uh, watch fest. Um, and it’s created for the 30 day period that they’re celebrating the games. Um, we’re actually raffling it off at the end of the, the soccer, uh, festival, if you call it a festival. Um, and if you had to install it in your yard, it’s probably a $20,000 value. But we’re offering the turf. The infill system, the padding and the installation. And it’s a it’s about a 1500 square foot area. Um, and I think it’s just going to give back to the community. It’s, it’s, it’s a lot of fun. People are getting real excited about it.

Lee Kantor: So anybody’s eligible to win that anybody’s eligible.

Darryl Dulong: Well, you know, they say family members and people that work here, you know, all the legal eagles that, uh, have their say. So yeah, anybody, anybody that’s, I guess, legal age to do that, uh, sweepstakes thing. Um.

Lee Kantor: So how does one go about, uh, either looking at it and seeing it for your, with your own eyes and participating in the watch fest and also, uh, you know, putting your name in the hat.

Darryl Dulong: The, there’s several ways to enter. You can scan a QR code on multiple signage that we have down at the Decatur Fest. You can sign up in person at our booth. It’s right by the mini pitch field. Uh, and you can go online at great american.com and search for the login page and you can sign in and enter there.

Lee Kantor: So now we talked a lot about the home systems, but there is some of the B2B part of this too. Are they using it the way that the residential uses it, or are they using it for, like you said, putting greens and kind of more recreational things.

Darryl Dulong: Most of the B to B part, the businesses that approach us are interfacing with the, the population, the people part. Uh, and so they’re creating an atmosphere where that is what they experience, even though it’s a business or corporation or whatever you want to call it. Uh, if it’s a sport, it’s great. If it’s indoors, it’s great, but it’s still oriented around a turf, uh, type of, of, uh, festivity, uh, whether it’s a dog park or a putting green or pickleball, um, the surrounding areas, the green spaces, the green areas have become quite popular to be done in the synthetic turf since it in the overall scheme of things, it’s actually cheaper, uh, to have that synthetic turf than it is a live turf because of the maintenance and the upkeep and the replacement cost. It’s just there’s no there’s no comparison.

Lee Kantor: Yeah, I’m seeing that all over in kind of shopping areas where they have a green space area where they might show like a movie, or it’s just an open area for kids to run around and kick a ball. Is that what you’re talking about?

Darryl Dulong: That is correct. It is still used for that where you would want grass. This is the perfect solution, whether it’s indoors, outdoors, public events, high traffic areas. Uh, grass just isn’t. I mean, real grass just isn’t the, uh, the product that one wants to actually try and keep up with.

Lee Kantor: Right? I would imagine, because this is probably pretty much a set it and forget it situation, right?

Darryl Dulong: Yes it is. Outside of the occasional sweeping, you want to fluff it up, uh, at that. It’s totally optional. I mean, playgrounds get a beating and, uh, they still look good.

Lee Kantor: Uh, so they’re used underneath like, uh, kids playgrounds as well.

Darryl Dulong: Absolutely, absolutely, absolutely.

Lee Kantor: So that’s another area for people to consider.

Darryl Dulong: Yeah. And so in the it’s an option for a product called PIP it’s called port in place. It’s a padding, a rubber padding. I’m sure everybody’s familiar with when you walk on it, it feels kind of spongy. We put the padding underneath the turf. So you have a green surface to play on. It’s a little bit more forgiving. It’s a little bit more pleasant to work with. Uh, and it protects the padding that’s below it from sunlight. So it does a two fold. It’s excellent.

Lee Kantor: Right? So, and it probably looks really robust and green when you look at it, but it’s also kind of forgiving if somebody fell down.

Darryl Dulong: It is, it is. And we all know green is the very relaxing color. It’s this, uh, it’s part of nature. And anytime you can put that somewhere, it’s soothing.

Lee Kantor: So what was it like when you pivoted from, you know, doing, um, all the outdoor, um, stuff to this? Was that a big decision from a business standpoint? Like, how did you weigh the pros and cons of making that kind of a change?

Darryl Dulong: It wasn’t something that happened overnight because when we picked up our first. Are the SDI franchise. Uh, it was an add on. We were told it might be a very nice product to offer for the service that we provided, uh, which was outdoor living and anything outdoor living. We did hardscapes, you name it, we were, we were a creator for that. Uh, and it became. A. The proof was in supplying the product to the customer. They loved it. It didn’t die. It didn’t go away. Everybody was happy with it. Uh, there’s no shelf life to it per se in, in people’s yards in their mind. I mean, it’s, it’s a, it’s a done once and done kind of a thing. Um, and it just took over from the living plants and the hardscape and the, the design part. It’s just, uh, simplified life for sure. And it, you know, we pride ourselves in saying that we give people back their free time. And it’s, that’s very, a very strong statement.

Lee Kantor: So then at some point you went kind of all in on this.

Darryl Dulong: We did it kind of took over. Uh, it ended up being, uh, you know, five calls a week to do synthetic turf and two calls a week to do landscape and hardscape. And after that, it just weaned its way into it. But that took, you know, five, six years to do that. Um, and then it just snowballed. Everybody started doing turf. It was no longer a novelty. It was something that was the main a mainstay in the landscape industry.

Lee Kantor: Is that here in Georgia or is that all over the country?

Darryl Dulong: Oh, that’s all over the country. It’s gone from California all the way to the East Coast, sweeping the nation. I don’t know how well they do it in the in the flyover states. Uh, but in the suburban areas of big cities, it’s, uh, it’s quite popular. Nobody wants to cut grass anymore.

Lee Kantor: The novelty has worn off.

Darryl Dulong: The novelty has worn off of that. Yeah. Green is green.

Lee Kantor: So if somebody wants to learn more, have a more substantive conversation with you or somebody on the team, what’s the website? What’s the best way to connect and put your name in the hat for that, uh, 200 $0 backyard system.

Darryl Dulong: Uh, we have a wonderful, uh, office staff and the leading, the leading character there is going to be Zoe, and we’re at (770) 475-5537. And again, her name is Zoe. She’ll take down information or you can reach out to us at Great American green.com. Uh, and we’ll be glad to help you out or info@greatamericangreen.com is an email.

Lee Kantor: Good stuff. Well, Daryl, thank you so much for sharing your story today, doing such important work. And we appreciate you.

Darryl Dulong: I appreciate the interview. Thank you very much.

Lee Kantor: All right. This is Lee Kantor. All right. Uh, we will see you all next time on High Velocity Radio.