Starting a microgreens operation requires more than buying seed and hoping for the best
I spent three years running a small microgreens farm before I figured out how to actually make money doing it. Most people quit within the first six months because they skip the planning phase. They buy trays, seeds, and lights without calculating whether the math works. A proper Microgreens Business Plan is what separates the hobbyists who lose money from the ones who build something sustainable. Here's how I structured mine and what actually matters when you're building one from scratch.
Building Your Microgreens Business Plan
Start with the operational side before you write a single sentence about revenue. I learned this the hard way. My first year I projected $8,000 in monthly sales based on selling to three restaurants. I didn't account for crop failure rates, which ran at about 15 percent on my early batches due to humidity issues. Realistic yield is the foundation everything else sits on. Calculate your actual per-tray cost breakdown. Seeds vary wildly depending on the variety. Radish seeds run about $12 per kilogram and yield roughly 20 trays from a single kilogram. Sunflower seeds are cheaper at around $8 per kilogram but yield about 15 trays. Add in growing medium costs, water, electricity for lights and fans, packaging, and labor. A standard 1020 tray set at retail typically sells for $18 to $25 wholesale. Your cost per tray should land between $4 and $8 depending on scale and efficiency. If your costs are higher than that, something is wrong with your setup or your supplier pricing. The thing most people miss is the labor model. Microgreens look simple but the day-to-day work is repetitive and time-sensitive. Seeding, watering, harvesting, and cleaning take about 90 minutes per 50 trays when you have a streamlined process. That's roughly 18 cents per tray in labor at minimum wage. At scale it drops, but in the beginning you're doing everything yourself. Build your projections around realistic hours, not ideal ones.
Market positioning and distribution channels
Restaurants are the obvious target but they're also the hardest customer to keep. Chefs want consistency and they'll switch suppliers if one delivery is late or one batch looks off. The real money for small operations is in farmers markets and direct-to-consumer subscriptions. I shifted 60 percent of my sales to a weekly subscription model where customers pay upfront for a recurring box. That predictable cash flow made it possible to order seeds in bulk and negotiate better rates. Another channel people overlook is local grocery stores and co-ops. They want consistent supply and proper packaging with labeling that meets their requirements. A single store might take 10 to 20 trays per week. One store isn't much but two or three adds up quickly and they usually pay faster than restaurants do. Here's a specific problem I ran into that had nothing to do with growing. I was selling to a couple of farm-to-table restaurants in my area and they kept requesting specific harvest times. One wanted deliver
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