Small Product, Big Market: Microgreens

HOLLYWOOD, FL, March 27, 2013

Cahaba Club's Marvin Wilhite builds an industry niche with tasty microgreens.

An overview of Cahaba Clubs existance:
• Chefs are always looking at trends and ideas for new products to grow their business. If you create something with a chef, you're a partner with him. That's the secret to Cahaba Club's longevity.
• Marvin Wilhite's product line includes many microgreens packaged individually, ranging from red amaranth to micro broccoli, onion, thyme, snow peas and chervil, all the way through red and green oak leaf and nasturtium flowers.
• Wilhite started Cahaba Club in 2000 with one greenhouse. Now he has 21, all self-built and designed.

Marvin Wilhite's 40-plus types of microgreens end up in 500-or-so restaurants across the nation.

Small is not only beautiful it is growing rapidly. He grows hydroponic microgreens in 4,000 square foot greenhouses at Odessa, Fla., north of Tampa, and his company, the unusually named Cahaba Clubs Herbal Outpost, sells the vegetable sprouts to more than 500 restaurants around the nation.

"Like just about everyone, the economic downturn hurt us," he says, "but you can buy our products in Denver, New York, Atlanta, the Cayman Islands, at Disney World, on cruise lines, in a lot of places. The interest among chefs is definitely there."

Both harvest and planting of the company's more than 40 microgreens goes on 365 days a year, with twice-daily deliveries to the airport for shipping to distributors.

"As anyone who has dealt with chefs knows, they can be extremely demanding, and we are a chef-driven company," Wilhite says. 'We guarantee our product.

"Ten years ago, a chef might throw microgreens on a plate to make it look pretty. Now, all the varieties we grow have a specific application for a specific dish. Chefs come here to visit pretty often — they want to see where the product is coming from. Our distributors bring busloads by here."

Wilhite started in 2000 with one greenhouse. Now he has 21, all self-built and designed.
"We bend our own pipes; we make our hoops. Microgreen greenhouse parts are fencing parts, really, but if you buy them as greenhouse parts, they're a lot more expensive. We have a big generator that can run everything — the microgreens greenhouses, the cooler, the office, all of it — because temperature problems can cause trouble in a hurry with microgreens.

Wilhite grew up in Jacksonville, Fla., son of a landscaper, and worked in other jobs for years, including a career in financing. While doing that, he met a fellow who had a deal to grow hydroponic microgreens and herbs for Disney World restaurants. That entrepreneur was poorly financed, however, so Wilhite bought land, leased it to him, and went to work as the company's sales director.

A venture capitalist bought the company, but soon ran into problems. Wilhite got it from him and started selling herbs to local restaurants, before discovering chefs' growing interest in microgreens.

"Chefs are always looking at trends and ideas for new microgreens products to grow their business. If you create something with a chef, you're a partner with him. That's the secret to longevity," he says.

"I built this business one chef at a time, one distributor rep at a time. Once I got started with microgreens, I just fell in love with the business."

Wilhite's biggest selling product these days is a 'rainbow' mixture of artfully arranged arugula, beef bulls blood, red mustard, red cabbage, purple kohlrabi and mizuna mustard.
He packages a number of microgreen mixes. An Asian mix, for example, contains cilantro, daikon radish tokashini, mizuna mustard, red cabbage, red mustard, shiso and tatsoi.
He sells a 'fiery mix,' with calienete wasabi, red mustard, green horseradish, and diakon radish. He packages several other mixes for different taste experiences.

His product line includes many microgreens packaged individually, ranging from red amaranth to micro broccoli, onion, thyme, snow peas and chervil, all the way through red and green oak leaf and nasturtium flowers.

"I'm going for a lot of flavor, whatever I'm growing. I want a kind of flavor explosion in the mouth," Wilhite explains, sampling micro onions, thyme, rosemary and amaranth and other microgreens as he walks through greenhouses.

"Flavor all comes from nutrients in the soil. If it grows in mineral-depleted soil, there's no flavor."
Wilhite's microgreens don't grow in soil at all, but in perlite — which technically is a volcanic glass — and water. The nutrients get to the plants constantly in solution with the water.

Color is his latest fascination. He grows pea shoots in four 1,000 square foot black rooms. Without light, the shoots are white. They're transferred to a regular microgreen greenhouse to "green up" for three days, then marketed.

"Chefs want something new and different, and color is the new thing. We're looking at doing some interesting things with light to produce different colored microgreens. It has a lot of potential."

Today, business is still not back to its pre-recession level, but has shown considerable improvement over the past few months.

"In 2008, I could do more sales with fewer customers. Now we're working harder and making less money. In 2008, things were so good that we sold everything we had. That was the last time that happened.

Everything about Marvin Wilhite's farm is small — except the demand for his crop. His hydroponic operation uses less land and water than a traditional farm, but he pulls in $30 a pound for the microgreens he grows. You could imagine that as about 48 bags from the produce section of your supermarket.

The tiny, leafy vegetables, harvested before the microgreens reach an inch in height, are popular at high-end restaurants, chefs discover them and holistic doctors promote their nutritional value.

A delicate carpet of purple and green microgreens grows in a raised, shallow bed of sterilized white pebbles at Cahaba Club Herbal Outpost. The tables sit in a cooled microgreens greenhouse that protects fragile greens from rain and sun. A week after the seeds are sowed, the thin, tender stems measure about three-quarters of an inch: ready to harvest.

Wilhite grows 14 types of microgreens at his farm, including mustard, beets, broccoli and cabbage. Sampled fresh from the greenhouse, the micro mustard has a bit of a spicy kick like horseradish; the micro basil tastes more potent than its big brother. Chefs like the deep purples and greens — the "bling" on the plate, Wilhite said.

"Once the mainstream gets the product, it takes away from the wow factor for the guests," he said.Wilhite keeps in touch with chefs, and he recently started a greenhouse devoted to tiny vegetables.
"It's something people haven't seen before," he said.

_editor_I have recently been writing a new Natural Cookbook and was researching some nutritional info about Microgreens...

Going for flavor
I went to the Farmer's Market across the street today and picked up some organic Microgreens, pea shoots and broccolini. I always try to go to the weekend Green's Market and when I missed it hurts!

MicroGreens contain:
- vitamins A, B, C, E, & K
- calcium, chlorophyll, iron, lecithin, magnesium, pantothenic acid, phosphorus, potassium
- amino acids (up to 30% protein)
- vitamin A enhances the production of RNA which is essential in cell renewal, protects your body from viruses, builds and repairs bones, strengthens skin and nails, and strengthens mucous membranes
- the part of chlorophyll known as superoxide dismutase plays a role in reducing inflammation throughout the body
- superoxide disumatase plays vital roles in slowing the cell deterioration process thus slowing the aging process
- stimulates metabolism and aids in weight loss
- purifies by helping to stop the growth of bacteria in wounds, eliminating odors of the body, and removing chemicals through detoxification
broccolini:
- vitamins A, B, C, E, & K
- calcium, chlorophyll, iron, magnesium, niacin, phosphorous, potassium
- amino acids (20-35% protein)
- major cancer-fighting phytochemicals including carotenoids, glutathione, glucosinolates, isothiocyanates, indoles, monoterpenes, and thiols; these phytochemicals produce sulforaphane, which stimulates the body's immune system to protect cells against free radical damage
- can protect against Helicobacter pylori infections, a major cause of stomach ulcers

pea shoots:
- vitamins A, B, C, & E
- calcium, chlorophyll, iron, magnesium, phosphorus, potassium
- amino acids (20-25% protein)
The Microgreens and Pea Shoots are good in salads, wraps, on top of soups, etc. I also like to just munch on them on their own!

Originally written Oct. 30, 2012 By Charles Johnson

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