MICROGREEN BUSINESS GUIDE · BURBANK, CA

Start a microgreen business in Burbank, CA.The app starts at only $3 a month.

Most Burbank kitchens serving microgreens are split between out-of-town distributors and a handful of local growers stretched thin. The chef-driven concepts on Magnolia and the lunch rooms feeding the studios are mostly sourcing greens trucked in from out of state. Nearly every U.S. city has a microgreen farm or two. The demand is bigger than the existing local supply, and the grower who shows up with consistent restaurant-quality trays gets the standing orders.

Quick Answer

You can start a microgreen business in Burbank with under $400 in initial equipment and grow it into a $3,000 to $7,500 per month side income within 90 days. Here is the local demand picture, the unit economics at Burbank wholesale prices, and the operating system used by working microgreen farms.

Walk into the chef-driven kitchens on Magnolia or along San Fernando Boulevard on a Tuesday and ask where the microgreens on tonight's plates came from. How often is the answer a local grower instead of a distributor?

What Burbank buys today

Burbank pairs a serious downtown restaurant scene with the studio lunch and catering economy, which puts steady, well-paying buyers within a few miles of any home grow setup. The Magnolia Park strip and the downtown core are chef-driven enough to value plate presentation, which is exactly the category microgreens own.

The Saturday farmers market downtown is a reliable direct-to-consumer channel, and the studio catering layer is an unusually large source of bulk orders for fresh produce that almost not enough professional-grade local growers currently serves.

Indoor growing here takes one consideration. Hot summer afternoons in the Valley want window AC or an insulated room, but once that is solved a garage or spare bedroom holds the 65 to 75 degree range microgreens want all year.

Every week you put this off, another fifty trays of revenue walks past your door. The grower who starts in Burbank this month will be the one with the locked-in studio catering and restaurant accounts when next year's growers show up.

The math, in Burbank prices

Burbank wholesale prices sit in the Los Angeles premium tier, with chef-driven and studio catering accounts paying for genuinely local cut-to-order product. Here is what the unit economics look like at conservative Burbank 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 Burbank pricing.

Break-even week

Week 4

First positive cash week. Most growers hit it.

What that looks like in Burbank 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 Burbank at standard wholesale prices. A two-car garage doubles it. A basement triples it.

Imagine a week six months from now where Sunday is the planting day, Saturday is the downtown market, Tuesday is restaurant delivery on Magnolia, Thursday is a studio catering drop, and the app tells you exactly which trays to cut. What changes about your week when the business runs on a system?

Three things every working microgreen farm in Burbank 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 Burbank 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 Burbank. 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 Burbank 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 Burbank farm on. The growing happens in your basement.

Try Grown Like A Pro free for 30 days →

Burbank microgreen FAQ

How much can I make growing microgreens in Burbank?
A working microgreen farm in Burbank 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 CA?
Yes. In most of California, 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 California Department of Agriculture before you sign a wholesale contract.
What microgreens sell best in Burbank?
Sunflower, pea shoots, and radish are the three highest-volume sellers in nearly every U.S. city, including Burbank. 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 Burbank?
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 Burbank's climate. Vertical shelving is the fastest path to higher revenue per square foot.
What is the best app for tracking microgreen production in Burbank?
Grown Like A Pro is the operating system used by working microgreen farms in Burbank. 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 Burbank 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 Burbank?
For farmers market and direct-to-consumer sales in Burbank, most growers operate under California'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 Burbank?
Restaurant wholesale in Burbank 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 Burbank restaurants currently buy.

Related guides

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

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