BrightFarms opens new greenhouse in North Carolina

The Packer | BrightFarm’s Paul Lightfoot heads USDA industry advisory group

CEO of Catalyst portfolio company BrightFarms, Paul Lightfoot, was named chairman of the USDA Fruit & Vegetable Industry Advisory Committee. A healthy and sustainable food zealot, Lightfoot leads BrightFarms on its mission to provide supermarkets with the freshest, tastiest and most responsibly grown local produce. Through his vision, BrightFarms has created the first national brand of locally grown produce.

BrightFarms Secures $100 Million Series E Round of Funding to Expand High-Tech Indoor Farming Across the U.S.

BrightFarms has secured more than $100 million in debt and new equity capital to support robust expansion plans. The Series E round of funding was led by Cox Enterprises, which now owns a majority stake in the company, and includes a follow-on investment from growth equity firm Catalyst Investors. BrightFarms will use the funds to invest in its current farms and retail programs and expand its network of regional indoor farms across the U.S.

TechCrunch | Instagram partners with LA’s ChowNow to make food pics and stories shoppable

“During this unprecedented pandemic, ChowNow has mobilized all its resources to help local restaurants survive and ultimately thrive, launching new products and services in record time,” said Chris Webb, CEO of Catalyst-backed ChowNow. “This Instagram feature is yet another valuable tool we’re offering our restaurant partners — at no cost to the restaurants — to help them drive more revenue and boost order volume without suffering the outrageous commissions and fees imposed by other delivery apps.”

Forbes | A Safer Romaine? BrightFarms Looks To Scale Its Brand Of Greenhouse Salads

It’s three days before Thanksgiving, and the news just hit nationwide. Another romaine lettuce recall threatens turmoil in the produce industry – and for the second year in a row, it’s all happening in the reaches of America’s most indulgent holiday.

Catalyst portfolio company Bright Farm’s founder, Paul Lightfoot, is literally watching from the sidelines. He’s at the headquarters of a Midwest food retailer for a meeting – by happenchance – but now, that conference room has turned war room as teams work to initiate protocols to pull affected products from the shelves.

Lightfoot doesn’t necessarily have to worry, however. As founder and president of BrightFarms, an indoor farming company that grows salads in high-tech, computer controlled greenhouses, his product isn’t impacted (the latest recall included romaine harvested in Salinas, California). In fact, within minutes, he can attest to a spike in orders, and BrightFarms salads will soon fill up empty store space.

The Future of Food is Bright

Catalyst portfolio company BrightFarms is changing the future of food but would not be able to do so without the help of people like Denise DeRue – one of the head growers at BrightFarms.  Denise began her career as an apprentice grower at the BrightFarms Virginia facility and after months of training was promoted to head grower of the Pennsylvania facility.  BrightFarms’ greenhouses are operated via hydroponics and the company understands that smart growers like Denise enable them to expand rapidly.  Each grower focuses on one greenhouse to make sure it has the healthiest, cleanest and freshest produce all the time.

Restaurant Tech Overview

Restaurants in 2019 continue to face several challenges, including everything from attracting and retaining customers to hiring and training staff. These challenges, both customer-facing (“Front of House”) and operations-focused (“Back of House”), keep restaurant profit margins low at 6% and contribute to the industry’s high failure rate. Increasingly, restaurants are more attune to these pain points and seek out restaurant-focused software and tech-enabled outsourcing solutions to increase sales volumes and reduce costs.