MICROGREEN BUSINESS GUIDE · SHILOH, IL

Start a microgreen business in Shiloh, IL.

Most Shiloh residents do not realize that the steady paychecks flowing through Scott AFB and the growing St. Clair County suburbs add up to a captive market for fresh, premium food. Sitting in the Metro East just across from St. Louis, Shiloh is surrounded by the restaurants and retail of Fairview Heights and Swansea, plus a military community that rotates through constantly and eats out often. Living microgreens are exactly the kind of high-margin, locally grown product that area has almost no one supplying. And the whole thing starts inside a spare room for under the cost of a decent used grill.

Quick Answer

You can start a microgreen business in Shiloh with under $400 in initial equipment and grow it into a $700 to $2,200 per month side income within 90 days. Here is the local demand picture, the unit economics at Shiloh wholesale prices, and the operating system used by working microgreen farms.

With Scott AFB and the Fairview Heights restaurant strip right next door, how fresh do you figure the microgreens trucked in across the river from St. Louis distributors really are by the time they hit a plate?

What Shiloh buys today

Restaurants across Shiloh, Fairview Heights, and Swansea lean on broadline distributors for finishing greens that often arrive past their prime. A local grower offering same-day living pea shoots, radish, and spicy mixes solves a freshness headache chefs have simply accepted. The Metro East dining scene, anchored by the commercial corridors near Scott AFB, gives a new grower more kitchen accounts than they can fill early on.

Farmers markets and small grocers across St. Clair County open the high-margin direct channel. Shoppers in Shiloh and neighboring towns already value local food, and a $5 clamshell of fresh-cut greens is an easy weekly add. The Scott AFB community in particular brings in households used to quality and willing to pay for it, turning a market stand into reliable repeat revenue.

The indoor model carries the whole operation through the seasons. Southern Illinois summers are hot and humid and winters still freeze, but microgreens finish in seven to fourteen days under controlled indoor lights year-round in Shiloh. While outdoor produce stalls, an indoor grower stays in supply twelve months, becoming the dependable local source restaurants build around.

If a Swansea or Mascoutah kitchen could get trays cut the same morning instead of two days out of a warehouse, what would that freshness be worth to them?

The math, in Shiloh prices

Microgreens wholesale around $22 to $38 per pound across the Metro East, with chef-direct living trays often clearing more.

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 Shiloh pricing.

Break-even week

Week 4

First positive cash week. Most growers hit it.

What that looks like in Shiloh square footage

A 10 by 10 foot room on shelving in Shiloh can produce 15 to 25 pounds of microgreens a week, completely independent of the St. Clair County weather.

Have you ever wondered why a Metro East market this busy, with thousands of households around Shiloh, still has almost no local microgreen grower serving it?

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

Try Grown Like A Pro free for 30 days →

Shiloh microgreen FAQ

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

Related guides

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

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