MICROGREEN BUSINESS GUIDE · DUNDEE, FL

Start a microgreen business in Dundee, FL.

Dundee is a small Polk County town tucked into the citrus groves and chain-of-lakes country between Winter Haven and Lake Wales, in the heart of Central Florida's ridge. The kitchens around here run on microgreens trucked up from the Tampa or Orlando distribution side, and that drive-time freshness gap is the whole opening. The Dundee grower who plants first owns the local advantage for a cluster of fast-growing ridge towns that have no local supply at all.

Quick Answer

You can start a microgreen business in Dundee with under $400 in initial equipment and grow it into a $3,000 to $8,000 per month side income within 90 days. Here is the local demand picture, the unit economics at Dundee wholesale prices, and the operating system used by working microgreen farms.

If you walked the restaurants around Dundee and neighboring Winter Haven on a Tuesday and asked where their microgreens come from, how many would name a grower inside Polk County? The honest answer is almost none, and the owners are usually surprised when they check.

What Dundee buys today

Dundee sits in the citrus-and-lakes country of central Polk County, on the ridge between Winter Haven to the north and Lake Wales to the south. It is surrounded by groves and the chain of lakes that defines this part of Florida, and it has grown steadily as the broader Polk County corridor between Tampa and Orlando fills in with new residents.

The demand picture is small-town with metro reach. Independent restaurants in Dundee and the larger dining base in nearby Winter Haven use microgreens for plate finish, and both the Tampa Bay and Orlando metros sit within reasonable wholesale-delivery range. Polk County's deep agricultural identity supports a strong regional farmers market scene, giving a direct-to-consumer outlet to customers who already prize local produce.

The climate angle is the easy sell. Central Florida summers run hot and humid enough to stress outdoor leafy production for months. A climate-controlled indoor space in a Dundee garage or spare room holds the same temperature in August as in January. A 5 by 10 foot footprint can carry both a restaurant route and a weekend market booth.

Every week you delay, another fifty trays of restaurant revenue gets locked up by a distributor truck rolling in from the Tampa or Orlando side. What does it cost you to be the second grower on the Polk ridge instead of the first?

The math, in Dundee prices

Dundee restaurant wholesale prices for microgreens sit in the standard national range, with independent and chef-driven accounts in the nearby ridge towns paying a premium for cut-to-order local product over the shipped-in trays they currently buy. Here is what the unit economics look like at conservative Dundee 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 Dundee pricing.

Break-even week

Week 4

First positive cash week. Most growers hit it.

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

Picture the version of your week where Sunday is planting day, Tuesday is the Dundee and Winter Haven restaurant route, Friday runs accounts toward Lake Wales and Haines City, Saturday is the 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 Dundee 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 Dundee 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 Dundee. 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 Dundee 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 Dundee farm on. The growing happens in your basement.

Try Grown Like A Pro free for 30 days →

Dundee microgreen FAQ

How much can I make growing microgreens in Dundee?
A working microgreen farm in Dundee 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 FL?
Florida has a Cottage Food Law (updated 2021) allowing direct-to-consumer sales without a state permit or inspection, and fresh raw uncut produce like microgreens is treated favorably. Restaurant/grocery wholesale generally falls under FDACS (Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services). Verify with FDACS before a wholesale contract.
What microgreens sell best in Dundee?
Sunflower, pea shoots, and radish are the three highest-volume sellers in nearly every U.S. city, including Dundee. 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 Dundee?
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 Dundee's climate. Vertical shelving is the fastest path to higher revenue per square foot.
What is the best app for tracking microgreen production in Dundee?
Grown Like A Pro is the operating system used by working microgreen farms in Dundee. 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 Dundee 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 Dundee?
For farmers market and direct-to-consumer sales in Dundee, most growers operate under Florida's Cottage Food Law with no state permit or inspection. For wholesale to restaurants and grocery stores, you generally fall under FDACS, and depending on volume may need a sales tax permit. Verify with FDACS before signing a wholesale contract.
How do I price microgreens to restaurants in Dundee?
Restaurant wholesale in Dundee 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 Dundee restaurants currently buy.

Related guides

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

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