Cincinnati Business Courier: BrightFarms expands to Ohio

Greenhouse startup opening $10M Greater Cincinnati facility to supply major grocery chains

Cincinnati Business Courier

By Andy Brownfield

A New York-based greenhouse startup is expanding its operations to Ohio, opening a $10 million Greater Cincinnati facility to supply large grocery chains in the region.

Ohio native Nick Chaney is moving back to his home state from Rochelle, Ill., to head up operations at the BrightFarms greenhouse in Wilmington, Ohio.

“BrightFarms is really centering their business around local,” Chaney told me. “We’re very community oriented, and we want to keep produce close.”

Chaney said the average time from cutting the produce until it appears on store shelves is 24 hours. That compares to up to seven days when you have large farms shipping produce across the country.

The Wilmington greenhouse is BrightFarms’ fourth, behind the original concept greenhouse in Pennsylvania, one in Northern Virginia and one in Rochelle. He declined to say how much the company invested in the Ohio greenhouse, but said that the average BrightFarms greenhouse takes between $10 million and $15 million in capital.

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