00:00Have you seen an effect on your business when it comes to all of these fears of outbreaks and people
00:04maybe eating less greens?
00:07Well, I think we're certainly seeing that, that people are eating a little bit less greens as they sort of
00:12process the information that's been happening.
00:14And as it gets pushed up into the news cycle through things like Taylor Farms' announcement today, that doesn't help.
00:21But, you know, at the end of the day, I think that consumers want to eat salads and they're starting
00:26to eat them more than they were just a few weeks ago at the beginning of the outbreak.
00:31I did tell David that I'm just fearless or maybe irresponsible and I still do eat salads.
00:35Or just a salad fan.
00:36Yeah, maybe. It's summer.
00:38But I want to talk about your business because you've gone from one rooftop greenhouse in Brooklyn to more than
00:4240 acres nationwide.
00:44What to you is the biggest unlock to maybe making indoor farming at scale work?
00:49So we have now have 12 greenhouses around the country in nine different states.
00:55And that's actually part of the unlock to make indoor controlled environment agriculture work is to be close to the
01:02locations where consumers are shopping.
01:05You know, that's one of the benefits of indoor greenhouse growing is that it doesn't travel thousands of miles to
01:11get to consumers' doors.
01:14And that gives a fresher product, a more beautiful product, and something that we're really excited about.
01:20And I think it will play a role in this nation's food security and food availability over time.
01:26You know, I was saying before we started talking with you, I live very near to one of your facilities.
01:30They've marveled at it up on the roof of Whole Foods in Brooklyn, New York.
01:34And I'm curious how replicatable that is across the country.
01:37So I think of what you've done here is a real test case.
01:39But when you think about the future of farming, how much is it going to look like what I see
01:43here in Brooklyn?
01:45Well, about 10 years ago, Leafy Greens in particular, which I can talk to, is about less than 1 percent
01:51of the Leafy Greens business in the U.S.
01:53And today, it's about 8 percent, and we're on our way to 10.
01:57So I think as a component of the overall food network, you know, we're on our way to being a
02:04substantial part of it.
02:05And I think it is replicable, but you have to do the things that we do, which is be close
02:11to where consumers are shopping, to be local, to have beautiful-looking stuff,
02:16and to have things that have great shelf life, both in the store and in consumers' homes.
02:20I want to go back to these outbreaks that we're dealing with, and I'm just curious how it affects the
02:24way that you approach your business.
02:26So I'll say here you haven't had problems with this.
02:28I think Sweetgreen was kind of wrestling with this as well.
02:30They haven't had problems but had to mention it on their earnings call because of a decline in demand in
02:34these recent weeks.
02:36How does something like this kind of affect the way that you pursue food safety, what you have to emphasize
02:40to the public?
02:41I'm curious if it's an opportunity or a moment when a company like yours has to kind of present to
02:46the public more information about the way that you keep food safe
02:49and the processes that you have in place.
02:51Well, we certainly have ramped up the communication around the things that we do at Gotham Greens in order to
02:59keep our products safe
03:01and tasting great for consumers.
03:04You know, it's never good for an industry to have an outbreak like this,
03:09and it does cause consumers to have some concern about the products you're buying in the stores.
03:15And so what we've tried to do is just to say, look, we have controlled environment structures where we treat
03:23them almost like a tech facility
03:24or a food manufacturing facility where there's, you know, we have hand-washing protocols.
03:29We have netting.
03:30We have, you know, hair netting.
03:32We have exit protocols on how to wash your hands.
03:36We have filtered water coming into the facilities.
03:39We have controlled humidity.
03:41We use a certain nutrient set when we do water the plants.
03:45And so our mission is really to talk about those things, not so much anything else.
03:50So you have thousands of locations right now.
03:52When you analyze your consumers, why do they buy your products?
03:55Is it because it's better for the planet or the product is better or maybe both?
04:00You know, if I had the exact answer to that, you know, it would be amazing, right?
04:06I think consumers all have different motivations to buy our products.
04:10But I think the things that are relatively consistent are it's local.
04:13So they know it's grown nearby.
04:15That translates into great shelf life.
04:18So it lasts longer than the refrigerator.
04:20You know, I've noticed that.
04:22I've only been with the company four months, and it was sort of the thing that really blew me away.
04:25It's just how beautiful the product looked even after several days in the refrigerator.
04:29So it lasts a long time there.
04:32And it's just a beautiful product on the plate.
04:35And that's what consumers want.
04:37And they're willing to maybe pay a little bit more for that.
04:41Let me ask you, Leslie, a trend question here, maybe predating the outbreaks that we've had
04:45and the effects that's had on kind of consumer appetite, if you'll pardon the pun.
04:48But what are the kind of leafy greens that you're kind of branching into or see more popularity in?
04:52I mean, this outbreak started with iceberg lettuce.
04:54We are in a world where that's on one end of the spectrum.
04:57There are so many other options that people are now buying for their salads.
05:01Well, yeah.
05:03I think you've seen the explosion in salad kits in particular,
05:09which are growing at significant rates of double digits.
05:12And so consumers are looking for salad kits that have, you know, whether it's spinach or red lettuce or romaine
05:21or a crispy green leaf
05:23that are then packaged with salad dressings and croutons and other things that help provide a full meal.
05:29That's really exploding and really driving a lot of the business in our area.
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