By AMY SOWDER

03/23/2021

New York City-based vertical grower Bowery Farming has placed its products in 275 Safeway and Acme stores in the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic.

The company now serves almost 800 grocery stores and major e-commerce platforms after this partnership with Albertsons Cos. Inc., which oversees the Acme and Safeway banners, according to a news release.

“Whether our customers shop with us in store or through our websites and apps, they expect to find fresh and sustainable produce for delicious meals at home,” Ricardo Dimarzio, produce sales manager of Albertsons’ Mid-Atlantic division, said in the release. “We’re proud to offer Bowery Farming’s innovative and sustainable produce to help meet customer demand for high-quality local indoor-grown greens and herbs.”

*700% growth is only for brick-and-mortar store sales

Bowery builds high-tech indoor farms close to the cities it serves. BoweryOS, its proprietary operating system, uses sensors, vision systems, machine learning and automation to monitor and control the variables in crop growth.

Every new farm the company builds benefits from the collective knowledge of the operating system, improving the entire network of farms.

Bowery’s greens and herbs grow in completely controlled environments year-round, independent of weather and seasonality.

“We’re proud to partner with Albertsons Cos. to bring millions of shoppers our local, wildly delicious protected produce and meet unprecedented demand for our growing category, which we believe is the next frontier of agriculture,” Katie Seawell, Bowery’s chief commercial officer, said in the release.

Five of Bowery’s most popular stock-keeping units are now available in 164 Acme stores (Pennsylvania, New Jersey, New York, Connecticut, Delaware and Maryland) and 111 Safeway stores (Maryland, Virginia and Washington, D.C.).

The initial five products are baby butter lettuce, crispy leaf, spring blend, kale blend and basil.

Bowery has seen nearly 700% growth in sales since January 2020 with brick-and-mortar grocery retailers, and more than quadrupled its sales with e-commerce platforms, including Amazon, according to the release.

To sustain this growth and meet demand for its produce, Bowery is building its largest and most technologically advanced farm yet in Bethlehem, Pa., which will further automate the growing process from seed to store and expand its reach throughout the East Coast.

The company also has two commercial farms in Kearny, N.J., and Nottingham, Md.