Breaking $100M in Sales

Jennifer Polanz

There was a bright spot amid much of the bad news for CEA: Little Leaf Farms in Devens, Massachusetts, announced it’s on track to break $100 million in sales by the end of the year, thanks to its No. 3 position in all packaged lettuce sales in the Northeast (including field grown).

The company said it also has nearly double the sales of the No. 2 CEA brand in the Northeast, according to Nielsen data on the category.

“We’re incredibly excited about what the future holds for Little Leaf Farms,” said Founder and CEO Paul Sellew in the announcement. “We have an aggressive expansion goal of 100 acres under glass by 2026 and are well on our way to meeting that goal.”

“We believe in the promise of CEA as a sustainable, scalable solution to the climate challenges facing field-grown crops and remain committed to our mission to bring fresh, sustainable leafy greens to all,” said Paul.

In other Little Leaf Farms news, the company filed with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office to trademark the shape of its signature Baby Crisp Green Leaf Lettuce. That’s right, the shape.

The shape being trademarked is a rounded curve that leads to the ruffled edges. Paul describes the Baby Crispy Green Leaf as a cross between romaine and iceberg with a distinct shape and crunch. In a video describing the lettuce, he says the variety was developed for indoor production and it’s harvested at a certain point in the production cycle to get the curl and ruffled edge that’s now pending trademark.