NEW YORK, March 15, 2022 /PRNewswire/ — Bowery Farming, the largest vertical farming company in the U.S., is showcasing the variety of flavor Bowery’s R&D team can unlock with the release of its Strawberry discovery pack. Featuring two cultivars for a side-by-side tasting, these juicy, flavorful strawberries are grown indoors, pesticide-free, and picked when ripe.
Bowery’s Strawberry duo-pack is now in limited release in New York City. Each discovery pack, available at select retail partners including Eataly NYC (Flatiron and Downtown locations) and Mercado Little Spain, contains two varieties: the Garden Berry, an elevated expression of a perfect summer berry, and the Wild Berry, a playful, provocative berry with concentrated flavor.
These two cultivars are also featured as part of a limited-availability offering at Tom Colicchio’s Craft and José Andrés’ Leña and Spanish Diner inside Mercado Little Spain.
“We’re excited to introduce delicious and diverse strawberries that are always in season, leveraging the expertise of our team, our controlled indoor growing environment and our proprietary technology,” said Irving Fain, CEO & Founder of Bowery Farming. “Strawberries are the first phase of a strategic road map focused on bringing unique and genetically diverse fruiting and vine crops to communities across the U.S. and eventually the globe.”
Bowery is reinventing the way strawberries are produced, unlocking the potential for deliciously consistent, pesticide-free, locally grown strawberries all year long. Strawberries, at the top of the Environmental Working Group’s “Dirty Dozen” list, are among the most pesticide-intensive, are typically bred to withstand long supply chains, and picked before they ripen and transported long distances to reach consumers.
Grown locally, Bowery’s strawberries are part of a simplified, sustainable supply chain, traveling fewer food miles than traditional strawberries. Bowery’s indoor smart farms can grow wildly flavorful cultivars that don’t thrive outdoors or that thrive in other global climates by controlling all aspects of the grow environment including light, water, temperature, and nutrients.
Meet the Bowery Berries
Bowery’s R&D team, along with an internal sensory panel and third-party experts, narrowed down dozens of cultivars in search of superior strawberries, demonstrating Bowery’s commitment to bringing genetic diversity back to the produce aisle. These delightfully different strawberries, pollinated by bees, offer a unique side-by-side tasting experience as part of Bowery’s new discovery retail pack ($14.99/8oz.).
- Garden Berry: Intense and zesty, Bowery’s Garden Berry is the quintessential summer strawberry in one potent bite. Perfectly balanced between citrusy and sweet, these juicy yet firm ruby red berries are ideal paired with delicate whipped cream or in a bright arugula salad with a peppery vinaigrette.
- Wild Berry: Unexpected and concentrated in flavor, Bowery’s Wild Berry is petite and poppy, ideal alongside sharp cheddar, dark chocolate, or in a bitter cocktail. It is a softer, smaller, and punchy berry that packs a ton of bright, floral flavor.
Bowery’s Strawberries will be popping at various restaurant and retail partners throughout the remainder of the year.
Strawberries are the latest innovation from Bowery, a vertical farming company that builds smart indoor farms near cities, growing fresher, pesticide-free Protected Produce with vibrant flavor year-round, using less water and land. In February 2022, Bowery acquired Traptic, a 3D vision and robotics harvesting start-up to accelerate the commercialization of fruiting and vine crops, starting with strawberries.
Bowery’s product line of pesticide-free Protected Produce features 14 SKUs, including an innovative new category called Farmer’s Selection, a rotating line of next-generation greens (such as Mustard Frills and Baby Rabe), a new-and-improved version of iceberg lettuce called Crispy Leaf, velvety and peppery Arugula with a punch, smooth yet crisp Baby Butter Lettuce, and more.
Available in more than 1,000 retail stores in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeast regions, including Whole Foods Market, Giant Food, Wakefern, Albertsons and Walmart, Bowery closed a $300M Series C equity round and doubled its revenue in 2021. The company has three new commercial farms under construction in the Atlanta, Georgia and Dallas, Texas metropolitan areas, including a new state-of-the-art farm opening in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, later this Spring.
About Bowery
Founded in 2015, Bowery Farming is on a mission to democratize access to high-quality, local, safe, and sustainable produce. Bowery builds smart indoor farms near cities, growing fresher, pesticide-free Protected Produce with bold flavor in precisely controlled environments, 365 days a year. At the heart of the farm is the proprietary BoweryOS, which integrates software, hardware, sensors, AI, computer vision systems, machine learning models, and robotics to orchestrate and automate the entirety of its operations. As a result, each farm creates far less waste and uses a fraction of the water and land compared to traditional agriculture.
Based in New York City, Bowery is the largest vertical farming company in the United States, serving major e-commerce platforms and more than 1,000 grocery stores in the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic regions, including Albertsons Companies (Safeway and Acme), Amazon Fresh, Giant Food, Walmart, Wakefern, Weis, Whole Food Markets, and specialty grocers, with produce that’s harvested year-round at peak freshness, delivered within days of harvest.
Bowery has raised more than $497 million in equity funding from leading investors, including Fidelity Management & Research Company LLC, Temasek, GV (formerly Google Ventures), General Catalyst, GGV Capital, First Round Capital, and individuals including Jeff Wilke, as well as some of the foremost thought leaders in food, including Tom Colicchio, José Andrés, and David Barber of Blue Hill.
