ANAHEIM, Calif. — Gotham Greens has proven its ambitions beyond “cute,” says Viraj Puri, co-founder and CEO of the Brooklyn, N.Y.-based company.
“We started off with a couple of rooftop greenhouses in Brooklyn, and everyone was like, all right, this is cute, this is interesting,” he recalls.
“Now we have achieved a lot of scale, with 350 employees and we are signing on a lot of big retailers who see the value proposition of indoor grown salads,” he said.
The company’s first greenhouse was built in Brooklyn in 2011, and then another greenhouse was built in conjunction with Whole Foods in 2013.
Two more greenhouses were added in 2015, one in Queens and one in Chicago.
This year, Gotham Greens has added a 100,000 square foot growing facility in Providence, R.I.. to serve the New England market, and a 100,000 square foot facility with room to grow in Baltimore, Md.,
Two more greenhouse facilities are coming in the next year but haven’t been announced yet, Puri said.
“The goal is to be looking at a map of the U.S. and be in every major region and service that surrounding state in a couple of hundred-mile radius with greenhouse-grown product,” he said.
Beside the appeal of lower food miles and local production, the flexibility that Gotham Greens gives retailers is key, he said.
“These retailers can sort of flex orders up and down based on their needs,” he said. There is less flexibility when they are loading lettuce from Salinas that is a week away by truck.
“It helps create equilibrium between demand and supply with very little shrink,” he said, noting that Gotham Greens packaged salads and greens only experience about 2% shrink at the retail, compared with 5% to 10% for greens shipped longer distances.
Related articles
Gotham Greens breaks ground on second Chicago greenhouse
Gotham Greens chooses former steel mill site for new facility
