BrightFarms Expands Reach With 5 New Customers

BrightFarms has grown its customer base to new stores and markets across the United States. The company’s sustainably and hydroponically grown salad greens and herbs are now available at Dierbergs, Food Lion, Jungle Jim’s International Markets, Misfits Market and Tops Markets.

Salad greens for Fairfield, Ohio-based Jungle Jim’s will be sourced from BrightFarms' greenhouse in Wilmington, Ohio, while Williamsville, N.Y.-based Tops, No. 28 on Progressive Grocer’s 2018 Super 50 list of the top grocers in the United States, will offer BrightFarms greens also from the Wilmington greenhouse. Meanwhile, the BrightFarms’ Culpeper, Va., greenhouse will supply stores that Salisbury, N.C.-based Food Lion operates in Richmond and Lynchburg, Va. Food Lion’s parent, Ahold Delhaize USA, is No. 4 on PG’s 2018 Super 50 list.

Making its debut in the St. Louis metro area, BrightFarms will provide unique lettuce varieties such as Sunny Crunch and Fresh Kick for Chesterfield, Mo.-based Dierbergs, with product sourced from a greenhouse in Rochelle, Ill.

“We feel that BrightFarms is a great complement to our offerings,” noted Jeff Cady, Tops’ director of produce and floral. “Tops customers demand the freshest and best produce possible, and BrightFarms delivers that day in and day out. They’re ‘local’ without being local, if you will. We are truly excited to be partnering with a company that is innovative, driven and looking to brighten the future of our planet.” 

BrightFarms has also teamed up with Philadelphia-based Misfits Market, a delivery-box service that normally ships imperfect or “ugly” produce to customers in Pennsylvania, New Jersey and Delaware, for which the produce company will supply aesthetically appealing excess yields from its Bucks County, Pa., greenhouse to help Misfits attain its goal of reducing food waste. 

According to BrightFarms, its hydroponic greenhouses use 80 percent less water, 90 percent less land and 90 percent less shipping fuel compared with long-distance growers. Delivered within 24 hours of harvest, the company’s salad greens are free of pesticides and certified non-GMO.

Among the other retailers carrying the company’s items are Walmart, Food Lion sister banners Martin’s Foods and Giant Food, and Albertsons.

Irvington, N.Y.-based BrightFarms finances, builds, and operates local greenhouse farms in partnership with supermarkets, cities, capital sources and vendors.