At ZipGrow, we have seen various business models over the years, from ZipGrowers selling and marketing their hydroponically grown crops. From larger multi-million dollar commercial ventures, with business-to-business contracts, to home operations that sell crops to their immediate community, friends, and family. And everything in between!
It can be challenging on a limited budget to start any business, let alone a farming business, but as we’ve seen from creative entrepreneurs over the years, it is possible to launch a hydroponic business venture with limited resources and space, find a niche market and flourish.
Last year we introduced you to Tim and Debbie Spinks and their homestead business Moringa Havasu. Their farm produces fresh, lush greens in the dry Arizona desert from their “off-grid” container farm retrofitted with ZipGrow Farm Walls. They are a fantastic example of what can be achieved at the home level in a region that struggles to grow crops traditionally due to a lack of arable land and a harsh climate.
Today we take you 2100 miles from Arizona to Toronto to connect with another small business owner Katherine Hadjinian. Along with her husband Miro, they operate Mon Petit Chou (MPC), an ever-blooming urban start-up farm in Toronto, Ontario. They also serve their community at a home business level, but their set-up, customer base, and product offering is quite different.
This is their story…
Katherine loved to receive and gift flowers, which inspired her to start her home business that would revolutionize the gift of health. “The thing with flowers, however, is that they tend to have a short shelf-life, and the health benefits are limited.” explains Katherine, “so I wanted to create a product that would be both beautiful and beneficial to people’s health.”
Mon Petit Chou is a French term of endearment, meaning “my little cabbage.” While Katherine isn’t growing cabbages (at least not yet), she currently offers three types of signature edible bouquets.
- The Bittersweet Lover
- 50 Shades of Green
- and Colour Me Red.
“Each bouquet is arranged so that it can be consumed with all greens as a signature salad, paired with our in-house dressings, or the individual greens can be used for shakes, sautées or even propagating and re-planting.”
Katherine and Miro always had a passion for learning how to grow food and have been hobby farmers for quite some time. In order to understand if hydroponic farming was something they could pursue, they took a road trip to ZipGrow Inc. headquarters in the spring of 2022. “It was such a great tour and experience that we left with the ZipGarden in tow!”
The ZipGarden™ simplifies hydroponics, grows fresh food fast within a small footprint, and can also serve as a pilot farm while learning the fundamentals of hydroponics.
Fast forward to today, and Mon Petit Chou is approaching its one-year milestone. They have upscaled the canopy potential from the three Towers of a ZipGarden to 19 Towers by adding four Farm Walls (each with 4 Towers).
Child's play
The green walls grow fresh leafy greens and herbs from their children’s playroom in the basement.
“One of the things I love most about the Farm Walls is that they do not take up space and are also serving as an educational tool for our daughters. From seed to harvest, we love growing our bouquets for our customers and providing the utmost freshness when it comes to taste, texture, and overall presentation because of the equipment we are using. We see it as a learning opportunity for the whole family.”
A blooming business
MPC services the region of the Greater Toronto Area (GTA). Katherine has been successful in generating business through word of mouth, primarily on Instagram and Google Reviews. “This is fantastic, as we can only service a niche number of bouquets or seedlings at this stage.”
They are actively working towards an e-commerce store and are taking several steps to promote their business and develop a solid online presence. “We are working on collaborating with other start-up businesses (especially women-owned) and participating in a Farmer’s market. We are also excited about the potential that e-commerce offers our business and look forward to continuing to share our start-up journey with everyone.”
With such a creative “boutique” business, there are endless options for how their produce can be marketed. “We are also networking with private event companies to create centerpieces for special occasions such as birthdays, communions and weddings to name a few.”
“We love creating beautiful and delicious salad bouquets that are as visually appealing as they are tasty.” continues Katherine. “We typically like to grow greens that will bloom with a lot of texture, contrasting colours, and bolder flavours for our salad bouquets
When ZipGrow checked in with MPC, they were growing a feast for the eyes of basil, Bright Lights Swiss chard, cut flower Kale, beet flower, hybrid collards, Lacinato kale, callaloo (Amaranth), parsley, cilantro, radicchio, romaine, hybrid marigolds, Orange Flash calendula, and safflowers.
Other successful crops they have grown in the ZipGrow™ Towers include snapdragons, hybrid broccoli leaf, butter lettuce, salanova lettuce, Cheap Frills spring mix, dandelions, dill flowers & sage.
The future is fresh
As Katherine and Miro outgrow their home space, their initiation is to expand to a commercial property or install a greenhouse by the end of 2024.
“Our goal is to open a biophilic-design retail store. Biophilic design is all about incorporating natural elements into indoor spaces so that people feel more connected to nature and experience a greater sense of well-being. We believe that our customers will appreciate our retail store’s calming and inspiring atmosphere, and we look forward to creating a space where people can connect with nature, enjoy delicious salads, and learn more about the benefits of growing food hydroponically.”
In the immediate future, they are working to expand their product offering by introducing microgreens for restaurateurs and local residents and offering subscription packages.
“We believe that micro greens will add a new level of freshness and complexity to our salads, and we can’t wait to see how our customers respond to them.”
What some of their customers are saying:
Such a refreshing new business idea. The bouquets are so beautiful and delicious. I love sending these instead of flower bouquets that die in a week and go in the trash. Great customer service too!
I ordered a bouquet to bring to a dinner party and it was such a hit!!! The bouquet was beautiful, fresh and green 😍 It was so much bigger and really so much more than I was expecting. I think it was probably the freshest salad I’ve ever had! My friend loved the bouquet. Such a unique, thoughtful, and useful (!) gift to bring for so many occasions (birthdays, Christmas, Thanksgiving, Easter, a girl’s hangout). Katherine really goes the extra mile to deliver a fresh, health-conscious, and delicious product that is also so beautiful 🥰 if you’re not sure what to bring or you want to impress your own guests, this is a great option and will go a lot further than the standard bottle of white or box of chocolates and is a lot easier than making an actual meal 😜 order one! You won’t be disappointed 🤗
I just loved receiving this beautiful bouquet of salad greens and the vinaigrette was amazing. I received it from a good friend as a gift but it was delivered right before a dinner party. My guests were stunned by the beauty of it. We couldn’t chop it up that night, but really enjoyed it the next day. So fresh and yummy!
By Kris Riis
Mon Petit Chou services the Greater Toronto, Ontario area
You can find them on Instagram @monpetitchoubouquets
Or contact:
Phone- 416-451-2687.
Email: [email protected]
