Gotham Greens is the latest indoor grower to see a massive surge in demand following July’s cyclospora outbreak linked to imported Mexican lettuce. Since the supply chain disruption, web traffic to gothamgreens.com has jumped 173%, while social media engagement has exploded more than 13-fold across platforms — generating over 1.9 million views and 10,000 new followers on Threads alone.
Meeting this heightened demand comes as the Brooklyn, N.Y.-based Gotham Greens makes aggressive, strategic moves to accelerate its next phase of national growth. The momentum is already reflected on retail shelves, where sales have grown 18% year-over-year across its portfolio of packaged salads, herbs, salad kits, dressings, dips and cooking sauces, the company says citing Nielsen data.
Following the appointment of CPG and agriculture industry veteran Craig Stevenson as CEO earlier this year, last month Gotham Greens named Natalie Barber Halpern as its first-ever chief commercial officer. The indoor farming leader is also broadening its retail sales footprint through a new strategic partnership with C.A. Fortune, a national consumer-centric integrated commerce agency, directly aligning with rising demand for indoor-grown produce.
In an exclusive Q&A with The Packer, Halpern shares how integrating these key commercial functions will help Gotham Greens scale retail partnerships faster, apply classic CPG brand-building playbooks to produce aisles, and solidify its position as the fastest-growing greenhouse-grown salad kit business and No. 1 basil brand nationally.
As Gotham Greens’ first chief commercial officer, you’re unifying sales, marketing and product innovation under one banner. How will integrating these three departments change or influence how Gotham Greens scales national retail partnerships?
Halpern: We’re bringing sales, marketing and innovation together so we can move faster, make smarter decisions and grow our business with a holistic commercial lens. I’m focused on centering our organization around the consumer first and further building out our commercial capabilities, including increasing the cohesion across the functions. These actions will help us deliver more of what our consumers love in partnership with our retailers.
Following the appointment of CEO Craig Stevenson earlier this year and your arrival as chief commercial officer, the leadership team is clearly focused on commercial execution. Looking ahead, what does success look like for you and Gotham Greens by the end of your first year in this role?
We’ve got a lot of momentum already with 18% year-over-year retail sales growth, a national network of greenhouses, and a fresh foods portfolio that’s helping expand our footprint well beyond salad greens. I’m here to help accelerate that growth. To get sharper and crisper on who we are, who we want to be, and how we’ll get there. I’m excited to take this momentum and ramp up a more focused and accelerated commercial engine. We have a sound strategic plan in place to guide us, and we’re focused on continuing to deliver strong business results by attracting new households, increasing our velocities, expanding retail distribution, and bringing meaningful innovation to consumers.
Gotham Greens has forged a new partnership with C.A. Fortune to manage national headquarter sales and in-store capabilities. What retail channels or regional markets are you prioritizing next to build on Gotham’s 18% year-over-year retail sales growth?
We have a great base to build from. Our retail sales are up 18% year over year, and we’re already in more than 6,500 locations from coast to coast. We’re not chasing doors for the sake of more doors. We want to build productive distribution, and C.A. Fortune brings the national selling and in-store capabilities to really help us execute against this objective.
We continue to see tremendous potential for growth across the food and natural channels, as well as in e-commerce. Over the past decade, we expanded into fresh dressings, cooking sauces, dips and meal solutions with our salad kits. These categories have allowed us to leverage our fresh produce while building our brand block in the produce aisle and other parts of the store.
You spent years leading iconic, established consumer health and CPG brands like Haleon’s Advil, Centrum, and Clorox. How are you applying classic CPG brand-building strategies to a fresh produce category that historically hasn’t seen this level of consumer brand loyalty?
I see a tremendous opportunity to bring the best of CPG brand-building to the produce aisle and fresh perimeter of the grocery store. And the first step is centering everything we do around the consumer. If we’re really listening to consumers, insights should inform our marketing story, shape our innovation pipeline, and drive our go-to-market strategy and choices.
I think Gotham Greens has tremendous potential to be a beacon brand around the store — one that stands for great-tasting, fresh, safe, convenient food offerings you’ll fall in love with. The good news is that we’re already well on our way. The brand foundation is incredibly strong. We have built real equity around freshness and quality, which has propelled Gotham Greens to be the fastest-growing greenhouse-grown salad kit business and the No. 1 basil brand nationally. Now, we are working on getting even closer to our consumers, further refining that brand promise, and identifying even more ways to expand how we delight consumers and our retail partners.
You’ve noted a surge in consumer awareness around controlled environment agriculture following the recent cyclospora outbreak. The Packer has spoken with other indoor growers who report the same trend. Does this most recent cyclospora outbreak signify a pivotal moment for indoor ag and, if so, how does Gotham Greens plan to educate and reassure consumers about the food safety and traceability advantages of greenhouse-grown produce?
Anytime consumers lose confidence in fresh produce, everyone in the industry is affected. What this recent outbreak highlighted is the incredibly meaningful role indoor farming plays in the fresh produce supply chain.
At Gotham Greens, our responsibility is to continue producing safe, high-quality salad greens and help restore consumer confidence in the category. We are focused on building and maintaining trust with our loyal shoppers and welcoming in new consumers who might be learning about — and loving — our brand for the very first time.
Since early July, web traffic to gothamgreens.com increased 173% and social media engagements have surged more than 13 times across all our social media platforms. On Threads, Gotham Greens has generated more than 1.9 million views and gained more than 10,000 new followers.
We want to show people what makes Gotham Greens different and why this translates into an amazing eating experience with fresh, consistent, delicious food they can feel good about bringing home.
Gotham Greens’ portfolio now spans packaged salads, herbs, salad kits, dressings, dips and cooking sauces. How do you see the brand expanding into new eating occasions, and what role do you see this diversified product mix playing in the brand’s future success?
What I love most about Gotham Greens is how incredible our greens are — they’re always in season, they get where they’re going faster, they stay fresh longer, and they retain more of their nutrients, helping to reduce food waste. They’re the foundation, and they help us serve the very best greens, salad kits, dressings, cooking sauces and dips. We hope that consumers can sense our commitment to taste, quality and sustainability in every bite.
I think our company will continue to grow by following the consumer’s lead and innovating in categories where we can deliver a fantastic and unique experience that we know they’ll love. That may mean more fresh food categories, or more opportunities to pair our incredible produce with sauces, proteins and prepared foods that make for easy, delicious, convenient meals.
With consumer and retailer interest in greenhouse-grown produce accelerating rapidly, where do you see indoor agriculture fitting into the broader grocery footprint over the next 3 to 5 years, and what role will Gotham Greens play in that shift?
We all benefit from multiple food production systems in the U.S. And indoor farming is increasingly proving to be an essential part of a more resilient food system. In the future, greenhouse farming will simply be part of how fresh produce is grown and distributed across the U.S. and around the world. Consumers may not even think about it as a separate segment anymore.
The next chapter for Gotham Greens is about building an enduring fresh food brand that continues to stand out in a field of greens — a brand that can transcend the produce aisle and stand for so much more. Our success will be defined by combining operational excellence with our purpose-driven consumer brand, strong retail execution and food safety leadership.
