Where to Sell Microgreens: Farmers Market vs Restaurants
A tray of broccoli microgreens can earn $5.47 or $22.47 in profit and the seed is identical. The price and the pack change and the Alberta Agriculture and Forestry cost model shows how much (Alberta Agriculture and Forestry, 2018).
If you're a new grower with a few trays a week trying to decide where to sell microgreens first that gap is your real question.
A chef's back door and a farmers market table pay differently, eat your time differently and fail differently. Pick blind and you'll learn all three the expensive way.
Restaurants are the better first channel for most new growers. Standing weekly orders pre-sell your trays, cost less labor per tray and waste less. Farmers markets pay more per tray and teach you faster so add one after two chefs are buying if no chef says yes within a month start at the market.
Below you'll see the per tray numbers for both channels, where each one wins and three checks to run before you commit a single tray.
Why Most New Growers Get Their First Sales Channel Wrong
Most guides on how to start a microgreens business call the crop high margin so beginners assume any buyer will do.
Not quite. Alberta's cost model shows that at $25 a tray, basil lost $15,083.52 a year and garlic chive lost $54.21 (Alberta Agriculture and Forestry, 2018).
Labor is the quiet drain. Basil took $19.00 of labor per tray against $6.67 for broccoli, arugula and mustard (Alberta Agriculture and Forestry, 2018). It grows slowly and bruises easily so slow crops eat your week.
Where to sell microgreens changes the price more than beginners expect. Microgreens World reports restaurant and wholesale accounts paying $25 to $35 per tray while direct market sales reach $50 to $63 (Microgreens World, 2026). That gap looks huge it shrinks fast once you count the trays you can't sell.
Even a tidy government model assumes some trays never sell. Alberta built in productivity factors of 75 to 95 percent to cover crop failure, damage and low sales (Alberta Agriculture and Forestry, 2018).
Yours will too unless a buyer already ordered them.
Farmers Market vs Restaurants: Which One Is Actually More Profitable?
Where to sell microgreens comes down to four things and the two channels split them evenly. A tie.
Price per tray: farmers market wins: Selling direct means you keep the retail gap and you set the price yourself. When you sell microgreens at a farmers market every shopper tells you what the tray is worth.
Labor: restaurants win: A chef can take a living tray which skips cutting and bagging. Alberta's broccoli labor ran $6.67 per living tray and $13.32 packed into clamshells (Alberta Agriculture and Forestry, 2018). Sell microgreens to restaurants as whole trays and that extra $6.65 stays with you.
Waste: restaurants win: A standing weekly order sells the tray before you seed it. A market table asks you to guess Saturday's crowd on Tuesday. Guess wrong and you compost the difference.
Feedback: farmers market wins: Nothing teaches pricing faster than a shopper's face. Nate Dodson who trains new growers puts it bluntly:
"Remember you can gauge your prices by how many people walk away." - Nate Dodson, grower and educator, Microgreens Farmer (Selling Microgreens for Extra Cash, 2019)
By his test if nobody walks away you're underpriced.
So the tiebreaker is time and time is what a new grower has least of. One chef visit costs an afternoon. A market day costs the whole day.
How much can you make selling microgreens? In Alberta's model, one broccoli variety went from $6,297.60 to $25,881.60 a year on price and pack format alone (Alberta Agriculture and Forestry, 2018).
Profit per tray by pack format and price (broccoli, Alberta Agriculture and Forestry model)
| Scenario | Revenue per tray | Profit per tray | Notes / Assumptions |
|---|---|---|---|
| Living tray at $25 | $25.00 | $5.47 | Cost $19.53 per tray, restaurant-style sale |
| Living tray at $30 | $30.00 | $10.47 | Same cost, $5 higher price |
| 60 g clamshells at $8 | $40.00 | $12.47 | Five packs per tray, cost $27.53 |
| 60 g clamshells at $10 | $50.00 | $22.47 | Same cost, market style retail packs |
Living trays at $25 to $30 look like a restaurant sale and cut clamshells at $8 to $10 look like market retail.
That mapping is mine not Alberta's and the fact sheet doesn't name a currency. Run your own costs through this microgreens profit calculator before you quote anyone a price.
📝 Note: Alberta priced a 960 tray facility with two full time staff. A one-shelf grower has no payroll and little overhead so your margin can look better than theirs while your hours look worse.
Where to Sell Microgreens First: The Best Channel for 10 to 20 Trays a Week
Sell microgreens to restaurants first and pitch before you plant. Guides on how to start a microgreens business usually say grow first and find buyers later. Flip it. Two committed chefs tell you how many trays to seed.
Grow one variety, cut it clean and carry a sample tray into three kitchens. Where to sell microgreens is easier to answer with a chef's yes in hand.
Radish and pea shoots suit this because they are quick and forgiving and our list of the easiest microgreens to grow explains why.
Fat Peach Farm in Madbury, New Hampshire shows the small version. Jennifer Wilhelm turned an 8 by 7 foot cold storage room into a grow room, lined up three vendors and tracked every cost. Startup cost $2,326.04.
Her budget projects $1,577 in net income from 12 trays a week enough to recover that cost in year one (Northeast SARE, 2021).
So how much can you make selling microgreens at this size? About $1,577 in year one, on her budget that's side income not a salary.
Her trays averaged 7.31 ounces and harvest plus packing took 15 minutes each (Northeast SARE, 2021). Small numbers honest numbers.
Add the market second with surplus trays only. When you sell microgreens at a farmers market this way, it becomes your pricing lab not your paycheck.
3 Checks to Run Before You Commit to Either Channel
Weigh a real harvest: Cut one tray and weigh it on a kitchen scale before you quote a price. Published yields are averages and Fat Peach's trays came in well under Johnny's Selected Seeds' 2017 trial (Northeast SARE, 2021).
💡 Pro Tip: If you sell microgreens to restaurants, bring the sample as a living tray not a bag. A chef can cut it, taste it and check shelf life on the line and that test wins the standing order.
Lock your harvest day. A chef who wants Thursday delivery needs a tray that is ready Thursday, not Friday. Map your dates with this microgreens growing schedule so every variety lands when the order does.
Call the market manager: Ask about booth fees, the waitlist and whether raw greens need a permit in your state since rules differ by state.
Before you sell microgreens at a farmers market, find one near you in the USDA Farmers Market Directory. Visit on a Saturday. Watch.
Key Takeaways
- Where to sell microgreens splits evenly: restaurants win on labor and waste, farmers markets win on price per tray and feedback.
- In Alberta's model one broccoli variety ranged from $6,297.60 to $25,881.60 a year on price and pack format alone.
- Fat Peach Farm's budget projects its $2,326.04 startup cost back in year one at 12 trays a week.
- How to start a microgreens business comes down to order: pitch, sample, then seed.
- Sell microgreens at a farmers market only after chefs are buying and price from your own weighed yield.
Where to sell microgreens stops being a one time choice the day your trays come out consistent. Take the chef who says yes first then let a market table tell you what your best tray is worth.
Frequently Asked Questions
How much can you make selling microgreens?
How much you can earn depends on scale. A small grower may net about $1,500 in year one on 12 trays a week based on a 2021 New Hampshire farm study.
A commercial facility needs far more capital: Alberta's concept business cost $109,284 to start and took about three years to pay back.
How much can I sell my microgreens for?
Where to sell microgreens sets the price. Published ranges run $25 to $35 per tray to restaurants and $50 to $63 at farmers markets while Alberta modeled $25 to $30 a tray. Set yours from your own cost per tray, then adjust to what local buyers accept.
Who are the buyers of microgreens?
Restaurant kitchens are the most common wholesale buyers and farmers market shoppers pay the most per tray. Grocers, juice bars, caterers and subscription customers make up the rest.
What are the most profitable microgreens to sell?
In Alberta's model, pea shoots, mustard and sunflower earned the most as full trays, and broccoli did well as cut clamshells. Basil lost money in every format because of its labor cost.
Should I sell to restaurants or at a farmers market first?
Sell microgreens to restaurants first if a chef will commit to a weekly order because standing orders limit waste. Where to sell microgreens first depends on that one test. If no chef commits within a month, use a market to test prices.
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