MICROGREEN BUSINESS GUIDE · ANN ARBOR, MI

Start a microgreen business in Ann Arbor, MI.

Most Ann Arbor chefs do not know where their microgreens come from. The trays sitting in their walk-ins shipped in from Detroit-area or Chicago-area distributors, and the freshness gap is what an Ann Arbor-based grower walks straight into. The operator who plants close to the kitchens, in Kerrytown, downtown, or out toward the Westgate area, is the one who locks the chef-driven accounts first.

Quick Answer

You can start a microgreen business in Ann Arbor with under $400 in initial equipment and grow it into a $2,000 to $6,500 per month side income within 90 days, even from a 600 square foot apartment. Here is the local demand picture, the unit economics at Ann Arbor wholesale prices, and the operating system used by working microgreen farms.

If you walked through ten chef-driven restaurants in Kerrytown or downtown Ann Arbor on a Tuesday and asked where their microgreens came from, how many do you think would say a grower inside Washtenaw County? The honest answer is almost none.

What Ann Arbor buys today

Ann Arbor has one of the strongest food cultures of any small city in the Midwest, with the University of Michigan anchoring a chef-driven downtown, the Kerrytown district carrying a deeper farm-to-table identity, and a brunch culture that runs every weekend. Modern American kitchens, tasting-menu concepts, and the wider Washtenaw County dining map all use microgreens for plate finish.

The buyer profile is unusually deep for a city of this size. Beyond restaurants, the U of M and U of M Health System corporate dining layer creates a wholesale channel most aspiring growers never consider, the Kerrytown Market and Shops complex carries clamshell retail, and the Ann Arbor Farmers Market is one of the strongest direct-to-consumer venues in the Midwest. Add the natural grocery scene and the wellness layer downtown.

The climate angle is the easy sell. Michigan winters knock regional outdoor production offline for months, distributor routes get longer, and product ages on the way in. A heated indoor grow in an Ann Arbor basement, apartment, or spare room holds the same temperature in February as in July, the heat is already in your bill, and a 5 by 10 foot footprint can carry both the wholesale route and the Saturday market booth.

Every week you delay, another fifty trays of restaurant revenue gets locked up by a distributor truck rolling in from out of state. What does it cost you to be the second grower in your neighborhood instead of the first?

The math, in Ann Arbor prices

Ann Arbor restaurant wholesale prices for microgreens sit in the mid to upper national range, with chef-driven Kerrytown and downtown accounts paying above standard wholesale because of the freshness gap. Here is what the unit economics look like at conservative Ann Arbor numbers.

Startup cost

$400

Trays, soil, seed, lights. Used gear cuts this in half.

Per-tray net

$20-$30

After seed, soil, packaging, delivery.

Trays per week

100

Target for $3K-$5K/mo at Ann Arbor pricing.

Break-even week

Week 4

First positive cash week. Most growers hit it.

What that looks like in Ann Arbor square footage

A 10 by 10 foot room with two vertical shelving units holds 60 to 80 active trays. That is enough to produce $3,000 to $5,000 per month in Ann Arbor at standard wholesale prices. A two-car garage doubles it. A basement triples it.

Picture the version of your week where Sunday is the planting day, Tuesday and Friday are restaurant deliveries inside the metro, Saturday is the Ann Arbor Farmers Market, and the system on your phone tells you exactly which trays to cut and when. What changes about the rest of your week when the income side is on autopilot?

Three things every working microgreen farm in Ann Arbor runs on

  1. A seed density and watering plan you trust. The number one cause of failed trays for new growers is over- or under-seeding. The cheat sheet inside Grown Like A Pro gives you grams per 10x20, soak hours, blackout days, harvest day, and watering for sixty-one varieties.
  2. A rotation tracker. Once you are running thirty-plus trays per week, you cannot remember what is in blackout, what is in light growth, what harvests Tuesday. A spreadsheet works for the first month. After that you need a system that pings you the day before each harvest and reorders seed before you run out.
  3. A customer + invoice layer. Restaurants in Ann Arbor want predictable weekly invoices and net-15 terms. Farmers market customers want clamshell tracking. Both want consistency. The app handles both.

The IKEA test

If you can follow an IKEA instruction sheet without screaming at the family, you can grow microgreens at a commercial level in Ann Arbor. The steps are about that difficulty: open the box, lay out the parts, follow the picture, repeat. Trays are the bookcase. Seed is the dowels.

If you ever did struggle with the IKEA bookshelf, that is exactly why Glappy lives inside the app. Glappy is the in-app coach that breaks every step down barney style, in your own language, from "how do I plant my first tray" to "why is this tray going leggy at day five and what do I do about it tonight." Type the question, get a step-by-step answer. There is no question too basic. The whole point is that a Ann Arbor grower starting today is not on their own.

What you are not buying

You are not buying a course. You are not buying a hype product. You are not buying seed from us, and you are not buying trays from us. We do not sell either. Grown Like A Pro is the operating system you run your Ann Arbor farm on. The growing happens in your basement.

Try Grown Like A Pro free for 30 days →

Ann Arbor microgreen FAQ

How much can I make growing microgreens in Ann Arbor?
A working microgreen farm in Ann Arbor produces $3,000 to $8,000 per month within 90 days of starting. The math: 100 trays per week, $20 to $30 net revenue per tray, harvested in a basement, garage, or spare room. The ceiling is set by how many restaurants and farmers market customers you can serve, not by the growing setup.
Is it legal to sell microgreens in MI?
Yes. In most of Michigan, microgreens fall under the state's cottage food law for direct-to-consumer retail at farmers markets and to private customers. Restaurant wholesale typically requires a basic food handler permit. Verify with the Michigan Department of Agriculture before you sign a wholesale contract.
What microgreens sell best in Ann Arbor?
Sunflower, pea shoots, and radish are the three highest-volume sellers in nearly every U.S. city, including Ann Arbor. Broccoli is the highest-margin variety because of its sulforaphane reputation with health-focused buyers. Specialty varieties like amaranth and shiso command premium pricing from chef-driven restaurants.
How much space do I need to grow microgreens in Ann Arbor?
A 10 by 10 foot room with two shelving units holds 60 to 80 active trays, which is enough to produce $3,000 to $5,000 per month. A basement, garage corner, spare bedroom, or sunroom all work in Ann Arbor's climate. Vertical shelving is the fastest path to higher revenue per square foot.
What is the best app for tracking microgreen production in Ann Arbor?
Grown Like A Pro is the operating system used by working microgreen farms in Ann Arbor. It handles seed density math, watering schedules, harvest timing, inventory, customer orders, and the financial side. Free 30-day trial with no credit card.
How long does it take to learn to grow microgreens commercially?
Most growers in Ann Arbor are selling their first trays within 30 days of starting. Commercial proficiency, meaning you can run 50-plus trays per week without losing crops to mold or under-seeding, takes 60 to 90 days. The seed density and watering math is the single biggest predictor of how fast you get there.
Do I need a license to sell microgreens in Ann Arbor?
For farmers market and direct-to-consumer sales in Ann Arbor, most growers operate under Michigan's cottage food law with no special license. For wholesale to restaurants and grocery stores, you typically need a basic food handler permit, a sales tax permit, and depending on volume, an inspection from your county health department.
How do I price microgreens to restaurants in Ann Arbor?
Restaurant wholesale in Ann Arbor runs $1.50 to $2.50 per ounce for standard varieties, $3 to $5 per ounce for specialty varieties like shiso, micro basil, or amaranth. Sell by the pound for repeat accounts. Local fresh commands a premium over the shipped-in product that most Ann Arbor restaurants currently buy.

Related guides

Once you have the Ann Arbor math in your head, the next read is the density chart that drives every tray you plant.

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