An ‘Inside’ Look at Market Demand for Fresh Produce

1.  Vertical Farming as a Supplier to Major Foodservice Chains

For 7-Eleven, the world’s largest convenience store chain, partnering with an indoor-farm supplier is enabling the brand to take a unique leadership position in the c-store industry’s broader strategy of competing with QSRs and other limited-service restaurant chains.

As a result of the deal, 7-Eleven will be able to source, year-round, fresh, pesticide-free lettuce for its prepackaged salads at all 1,300 of its California locations.

Not only does this serve the chain’s ongoing effort to optimize food quality, but sourcing indoor farming for its environmental virtues—dramatically reduced land and water use—also represents a formidable contribution to the foodservice industry’s sustainability effort.

2.  Vertical Farming as a Unique Solution for Restaurant Independents

Consumer demand for fresh foods, along with local sourcing, has everything to do with why the farm-to-table concept is so attractive to independent operations looking for ways to differentiate in their respective markets.

That’s why forerunners in the effort, like Gather in Omaha, are practicing their own indoor farming on-site. And, like 7-Eleven, they’re finding it offers multiple benefits.

According to Agrotonomy, which published a recent article on Gather, beyond providing “a true farm-to-table experience, their crops have a remarkably low carbon-footprint with zero food miles (and) . . . a higher nutrient density, while featuring an increase in flavonoid and antioxidant levels.”

3.  Vertical Farming as an Emerging Prospect in Healthcare Foodservice

Where else would the healthier advantages of fresh produce, grown on-site, make more sense than inside a café at a leading-edge healthcare provider like the Mayo Clinic?

Foodservice staff at the clinic’s Dan Abraham Healthy Living Center Café in Rochester, Minnesota, are operating a hydroponic micro-farm inside the kitchen.

Not only is this better enabling them to meet Mayo’s higher standards for food quality, safety and nutrients, but they’re also seeing bottom-line benefits—namely, higher foot traffic.

Thus, as Foodservice Director reported just last month, “It’s likely Mayo will expand the micro-farms to other parts of its sprawling Rochester campus, as well as to other Mayo campuses around the country.”

4.  Vertical Farming as a Supplier for College, University and K12 Foodservice

Foodservice management giant, Compass Group, has already expanded its indoor-farm sourcing nationwide through a partnership with a leading provider of indoor hydroponic farms.

Chartwells recently covered the story and quoted Compass Education CEO, Gary Snyder, who explained why it made sense to translate the company’s success with indoor, vertical farm sourcing in fine dining over to its K12 and C&U facilities.

“Beyond the powerful educational and dining opportunities that come from harvesting produce directly from these tech-enabled farms, they further reduce our environmental footprint and support our client partner’s reduced or net zero carbon goals.”

5.  Vertical Farming as a Promising Solution in Foodservice Distribution

Perhaps what is most telling about the potential for vertical farming to meet consumers’ fresh produce demand are the results from a 2023 survey conducted by Netled in partnership with Iowa State University CyBiz Lab.

Reaching out to multiple purchasing professionals among the top-10 U.S. foodservice and retail distributors, they found 67% had sourced from vertical farm suppliers in 2022. Among them, all said they are somewhat or extremely likely to expand this sourcing in the future.

Meanwhile, among those who hadn’t sourced from vertical farms before, 67% of that group also said they are somewhat or extremely likely to do so in the future.