MICROGREEN BUSINESS GUIDE · MCKINNEY, TX

Start a microgreen business in McKinney, TX.

Most McKinney kitchens serving microgreens are split between out-of-town distributors and a handful of local growers stretched thin. The chef-driven restaurants on the historic downtown square and the new concepts opening along Highway 380 are mostly pulling greens off a Dallas distributor truck, cut a week earlier in another state. The McKinney grower who steps up first owns that conversation.

Quick Answer

You can start a microgreen business in McKinney 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 Collin County wholesale prices, and the operating system used by the working microgreen farms.

Walk into five chef-owned restaurants around the McKinney square on a Tuesday and ask where their microgreens come from. How often do you hear the name of a local grower instead of a regional distributor?

What McKinney buys today

McKinney has grown from a sleepy Collin County seat into one of the fastest expanding cities in the country, and the restaurant scene around the historic downtown square has matured right alongside that growth. Independent kitchens, wine bars, and farm-to-table concepts dominate the square, and the new build-outs along Highway 380 and Custer Road keep adding chef-led restaurants every quarter.

The McKinney Farmers Market at Chestnut Square is a fixture of the local food culture, pulling a steady weekend crowd that already shops with an eye for quality and provenance. The demographic skews high household income, family-focused, and increasingly health conscious, which is the textbook microgreen direct-to-consumer profile.

For indoor growing, McKinney's main consideration is the long Texas summer. A spare bedroom with a window unit, a garage with insulation, or a converted shed can hold the 65 to 75 degree range microgreens prefer, and once that is solved the climate becomes a non-issue twelve months a year.

Every month you wait, another McKinney restaurant signs a 12-month produce agreement with a truck rolling in from Dallas or further. What does it cost you when the chefs you wanted to sell to are already locked into someone else's invoice?

The math, in McKinney prices

McKinney restaurant wholesale prices for microgreens sit at the mid-tier for North Texas, with the chef-driven square accounts paying premium for cut-to-order local product. Here is what the unit economics look like at conservative McKinney 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 McKinney pricing.

Break-even week

Week 4

First positive cash week. Most growers hit it.

What that looks like in McKinney 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 McKinney 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 delivery on the square, Saturday morning is the Chestnut market, and the app tells you exactly which trays to cut. What changes about how you spend the rest of your week when the business runs on a system?

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

Try Grown Like A Pro free for 30 days →

McKinney microgreen FAQ

How much can I make growing microgreens in McKinney?
A working microgreen farm in McKinney 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 McKinney?
Sunflower, pea shoots, and radish are the three highest-volume sellers in nearly every U.S. city, including McKinney. 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 McKinney?
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 McKinney's climate. Vertical shelving is the fastest path to higher revenue per square foot.
What is the best app for tracking microgreen production in McKinney?
Grown Like A Pro is the operating system used by working microgreen farms in McKinney. 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 McKinney 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 McKinney?
For farmers market and direct-to-consumer sales in McKinney, 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 McKinney?
Restaurant wholesale in McKinney 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 McKinney restaurants currently buy.

Related guides

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

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