A mother of two's "side hustle" has turned into a veritable "love fest" that is likely to see her put on staff to assist her thriving microgreen business.
Last year, Clancy Gillingham started growing about 20 different varieties of microgreen (immature versions of vegetables and herbs) in a purpose-built cold room under her house in Adelaide Park, near Yeppoon. Now she supplies up to 200 customers at the markets each week in addition to local restaurants — not bad for a home business she started to make some money while caring for her young children.
Ms. Gillingham said her initial target market was upmarket or health-conscious restaurants and cafes, but most of her core customers were first-time microgreen buyers."A lot of people didn't know what they were and, especially in our region, it is a very new thing — it's not like we are in a big city," she said.
With demand likely to keep rising, Ms. Gillingham is considering employing a staff member, but she has no plans to expand too far outside her own patch. "We want to keep it local," Ms. Gillingham said.
"We wouldn't want to push out further than Yeppoon and Rocky's fruit and veg shops and restaurants." Microgreens can contain four to 40 times more nutrients than their mature counterparts, according to research from the University of Maryland College of Agriculture and Natural Resources and the United States Department of Agriculture.
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