MICROGREEN BUSINESS GUIDE · KATY, TX

Start a microgreen business in Katy, TX.

Most Katy residents do not realize how much restaurant volume sits in this corridor compared to how few local microgreen growers serve it. The chef-driven concepts in LaCenterra, the seafood spots along I-10, and the family-driven independents along Mason Road are all buying from distributors. The Katy grower who steps up first locks in the corridor.

Quick Answer

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

Walk into five independent restaurants in LaCenterra or along Mason Road on a Tuesday and ask the kitchen who supplies their microgreens. How often is the answer a local grower instead of a name on an invoice?

What Katy buys today

Katy has grown into one of the highest-income western suburbs of Houston, with a school district reputation that draws professional households and a restaurant economy that scales with the population. The independent restaurants along Mason Road, in LaCenterra at Cinco Ranch, and pushing into the new developments off the Grand Parkway all benefit from customers who notice quality and pay for it.

The wellness and meal-prep culture across Katy is significant, with boutique fitness studios and prepared-meal operations that order microgreens by the pound to keep pace with their direct-to-consumer customers. The farmers market scene is modest but consistent, and Houston proper is a short drive for any direct route.

For indoor growing, Katy faces the same Gulf Coast heat and humidity profile as the rest of greater Houston. A spare bedroom, garage, or insulated outbuilding with a window AC holds the 65 to 75 degree window microgreens want, and once that is set the operation runs the same year round.

Every month you wait, another LaCenterra or Mason Road kitchen signs a 12-month produce contract with a distributor that should have been yours. What does it cost when the accounts you wanted are already on someone else's delivery list?

The math, in Katy prices

Katy wholesale prices for microgreens sit at the mid-tier national range, with chef-driven and family-restaurant accounts paying for fresh local product. Here is what the unit economics look like at conservative Katy 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 Katy pricing.

Break-even week

Week 4

First positive cash week. Most growers hit it.

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

Imagine the version of your week where Sunday is the planting day, Tuesday is restaurant delivery through LaCenterra and along Mason Road, Saturday is the farmers market, and the app tells you exactly which trays to cut and where they are going. What changes about the other four days when the business runs on a system?

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

Try Grown Like A Pro free for 30 days →

Katy microgreen FAQ

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

Related guides

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

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