New York City-based Bowery, a vertical farming company serving more than 1,800 grocery stores and e-commerce platforms, has expanded its ready-to-eat salad kits to all 166 Giant Food locations.
That means the salad kits will be in the fresh produce departments of Giant Food stores in Delaware, Maryland, Virginia and the Washington, D.C., area, according to a news release.
In 2022, Bowery expanded product offerings into the ready-to-eat-category with three salad kits — Zesty Caesar, Avocado Ranch and Balsamic Vinaigrette — featuring “forkable” greens and crunchy toppings, from pepitas to Parmesan crisps, the company said.
“This expansion of salad kits will help us meet booming consumer demand in the ready-to-eat category,” Matt Williams, Bowery head of sales, said in the release. “Our salad kits provide a healthy, convenient option for a quick meal on-the-go, traveling fewer food miles and staying fresher longer due to reduced time from harvest to shelf.”
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Bowery salad kits feature a base of crispy leaf lettuce that, like all Bowery produce, is grown indoors in completely controlled environments year-round, independent of weather and seasonality. Greens are harvested at peak freshness and on shelf within days, according to the release. Bowery designs and builds smart indoor farms near the communities it serves, using technology to create a smart, agile food system focused on flavor and freshness.
“Bowery is a great local partner to Giant Food,” Josh Hardester, Giant Food category manager, said in the release. “Their focus on sustainability, while also providing an innovative, high-quality, great-tasting product, really checks a lot of boxes for Giant and our customers.”
Bowery salad kits will also pop up for sampling at the National BBQ Battle in Washington, D.C., in June. Giant Food is a sponsor of this event.
Bowery is achieving new scale as the company expands to more regions and more retailers, the company said. To meet demand for its produce, Bowery has plans to open two new smart farms near Atlanta in Locust Grove, Ga., and near the Dallas-Fort Worth metro area in Arlington, Texas. Bowery said it has increased its retail footprint by more than 15 times between 2020 and 2023.