Use the word “startup” and the image that percolates to mind is a room filled with bros coding for 40 hours and squeezing in foosball tournaments. That’s an image well grounded in reality. There are shared workspaces, volunteer professional networks, and angel investing groups—along with dozens of top-tier venture capital firms centered around New York’s famed Silicon Alley.
But sometimes, Observer.com is struck by innovative start-ups that have very little to do with computers, software, apps or cell phones. One such venture caught their attention last week. It is called Gotham Greens, a giant urban farm on rooftops in Greenpoint and Gowanus that has now expanded to Chicago. The company was founded in 2008, and opened its first giant greenhouse in 2011. The Gowanus facility sits atop a Whole Foods Market, one of the company’s largest customers. Gotham Greens is currently delivering 100 tons of premium-quality, pesticide-free produce annually. Gotham Greens grows bok choy, arugula, kale, basil, and tomatoes among other leafy greens and vegetables.
With mid-city locations, the use of the word “local” takes on new meaning. The company likes to say it’s harvested before breakfast so that they can be on customers’ plates by lunch. The founders have backgrounds in architecture and strategic planning, and the management team includes a plant physiologist with a “discerning palate.”