With this growth, the company is now expanding its product offerings with new salad kits, which are already on the shelf at the Dorthy Lane in Dayton and in Nashville. They’ll be in Kroger stores soon across southwestern Ohio, according to the company.
80 Acres Farms has spent the past year working on these salad kits “ensuring that the toppings are as fresh, clean, and flavorful as the greens they’re packaged with,” said spokesman Jed Portman.
Salad kits will be marketed as grab-and-go fresh meals.
“Retailers have long been attracted to indoor farming because of its potential to supply fresh, healthy, and great-tasting produce in a more environmentally sustainable and resilient manner,” said 80 Acres Farms co-founder and CEO Mike Zelkind. “Kroger recognizes the importance of vertical farming in our nation’s future food supply chain, and the value we deliver by offering differentiated products that customers love.”
80 Acres Farms grows pesticide-free produce ― including salad blends, herbs, and tomatoes ― entirely indoors using fewer natural resources. They started in Hamilton in 2015, and continue to make their headquarters in Butler County’s capital city. In 2021, their produce received a Kosher certification.
The company has been a Kroger supplier since 2019, starting with just one downtown Cincinnati store, and now will begin supplying around 1,000 Kroger stores across the Midwest and Southeast.
The Florence, Ky., farm will supply approximately 40 million servings of produce annually, and the Covington, Ga., location will be another next-generation farm.
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