Indoor farmer Square Roots launches two salad mixes

New York City-based indoor grower Square Roots has launched two new salad mixes, entering the $8.1 billion-packaged salads and greens category.

The salad mixes have microgreens and crisp baby leaves grown across the company’s network of Cloud-connected and climate-controlled indoor farms, according to a news release.

“Square Roots is accelerating our retail presence to meet the increased demand we are seeing for our produce from both consumers and customers,” Raji Margolin, executive vice president of sales and marketing, said in the release.

The packaged salads and greens market has grown 10% over the past 52-week period, according to data tracker SPINS.

The 3.75-ounce salad mixes debut on retail shelves in September and are grown at the company’s new farm in Grand Rapids, Michigan. This farm is designed for both vertical- and horizontal-stacked growing formats, and the overall growing capacity of any Square Roots farm can scale up or down, depending on demand in the local market.

The new spring mix has kale, mizuna and tatsoi microgreens with crisp baby lettuce leaves. The super mix has broccoli, kale and cabbage microgreens with crunchy tatsoi leaves.

Square Roots’ new salad mixes follow the launch of the company’s expanded herbs range earlier in 2021, which included cilantro, dill and parsley also grown in climate-controlled local farms in New York and Michigan.

The produce is available in more than 200 stores nationwide, including Whole Foods Market, Fresh Thyme Market, FreshDirect, Meijer’s market format stores, Morton Williams and D&W Fresh Market. It comes in 100% recycled and 100% recyclable packaging.

Square Roots broke ground on its latest indoor farm in Grand Rapids in December 2020 and planted seeds three months later, in March 2021.

The company partners with Gordon Food Service to deploy farms nationwide together and provide fresh, local food to consumers across cities, year-round.

“The greatest way that Square Roots can make a difference is to make locally grown, nutritious food available to millions of people in cities across America,” cofounder and CEO Tobias Peggs said in the release. “We’re using technology and data to connect food, farmers and consumers in new ways, propelling Square Roots to ultimately create an ecosystem where local food can be accessibly grown at a global scale, all year-round.”