MICROGREEN BUSINESS GUIDE · ST. AUGUSTINE, FL

Start a microgreen business in St. Augustine, FL.

Most St. Augustine residents do not realize how favorable the historic downtown food scene is for a microgreen operation. The oldest continuously occupied European settlement in the country has built a tourism driven restaurant base that draws millions of visitors a year, and almost every chef-driven kitchen is sourcing greens from a regional distributor. The St. Augustine grower who fixes that pays themselves first.

Quick Answer

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

Walk into five chef-owned restaurants in the historic district and on Anastasia Island on a Tuesday and ask where the microgreens come from. How often does the answer name a local St. Johns County grower?

What St. Augustine buys today

St. Augustine is one of the most heavily visited tourism markets in Florida by per capita measure, with the historic district, the Castillo de San Marcos, and the surrounding coastal corridor drawing millions of visitors a year. The restaurant base supporting that tourism includes a strong chef-driven independent presence that has expanded over the past decade.

The combination of year round tourism, snowbird season, and a permanent residential base that skews higher income produces a multi-channel wholesale and direct retail market. The St. Augustine Amphitheatre Wednesday market and the surrounding county market scene provide steady direct retail outlets. Catering for events on the bayfront adds another revenue stream.

For indoor growing, the northeast Florida climate is mostly like the peninsula, with constant summer heat and humidity making a sealed grow room with a window AC and dehumidifier the standard setup. Brief winter cold snaps may call for a small space heater, but the operation runs consistently year round.

Every month you wait, another historic district kitchen signs a 12 month supply agreement. What does it cost you when the chef-driven accounts you wanted are already on someone else's invoice when next tourism season hits?

The math, in St. Augustine prices

St. Augustine restaurant wholesale prices for microgreens run at the upper end of the regional range, with chef-driven and tourism accounts paying a premium for cut-to-order local product. Here is what the unit economics look like at conservative 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 St. Augustine pricing.

Break-even week

Week 4

First positive cash week. Most growers hit it.

What that looks like in St. Augustine 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 St. Augustine 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 delivery in the historic district and on Anastasia, Saturday is the farmers market, and the app tells you 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 St. Augustine 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 St. Augustine 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 St. Augustine. 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 St. Augustine 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 St. Augustine farm on. The growing happens in your basement.

Try Grown Like A Pro free for 30 days →

St. Augustine microgreen FAQ

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

Related guides

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

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