MICROGREEN BUSINESS GUIDE · RENO, NV

Start a microgreen business in Reno, NV.

Most Reno residents do not realize how much of the local restaurant produce arrives on a truck from California, including the microgreens. The Midtown bistros, the Downtown casino kitchens, and the Old Southwest brunch spots all serve product that was cut days before service. The Reno grower who plants close to the kitchens is positioned to win in a market that is still wide open.

Quick Answer

You can start a microgreen business in Reno with under $400 in initial equipment and grow it into a $2,000 to $5,500 per month side income within 90 days. Here is the local demand picture, the unit economics at Reno wholesale prices, and the operating system used by working microgreen farms.

If you walked through five chef-driven restaurants in Midtown Reno on a Tuesday and asked where their microgreens were cut, how many do you think would actually name a grower inside Washoe County?

What Reno buys today

Reno's restaurant scene has grown sharply over the last decade, with Midtown leading the way and chef-driven concepts spreading into Old Southwest, Riverwalk, and the South Meadows. Microgreens are baseline on those plates, and the influx of tech and remote-work residents has raised the floor for what a chef-driven kitchen can charge for a locally sourced plate.

The downtown summer farmers market and the surrounding neighborhood market scene give you a direct-to-consumer channel for half the year, and the wellness, juice bar, and prepared-food retail scene fills in steady wholesale flow year-round. The casino food and beverage operations also create unusually large single accounts when you have the production to serve them.

For indoor growing, Reno's high-desert climate is friendly to germination control. Winters require basic heating, summers are dry and manageable, and a 5 by 10 foot footprint in an insulated garage or interior room can outproduce most side businesses on a weekly basis.

Every week another Midtown or Riverwalk kitchen signs a standing order with a California distributor. What does it cost you when the chefs who want a genuinely local product are already on someone else's invoice for the next year?

The math, in Reno prices

Reno restaurant wholesale prices for microgreens sit in the mid range nationally, with chef-driven kitchens and the growing casino food and beverage operations paying a clear premium for genuinely local trays. Here is what the unit economics look like at conservative Reno 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 Reno pricing.

Break-even week

Week 4

First positive cash week. Most growers hit it.

What that looks like in Reno 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 Reno 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 across Midtown, Saturday is the market, and the system on your phone tells you exactly which trays to cut. What changes about the rest of your week when the income side runs on rails?

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

Try Grown Like A Pro free for 30 days →

Reno microgreen FAQ

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

Related guides

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

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