Square Roots

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For example, Peggs said, Genovese basil, grown in northwestern Italy, is considered the best quality basil A study matched the peak basil-growing season to climate conditions in Genoa

“We could recreate that climate, where we could get food to people from all over the world and completely eliminate the transport ”

An indoor farm, to be specific, would work, where the crop could grow year round in the same conditions where it grows best

“It’s always peak basil growing season even in Februar y, ”

Peggs said “You can bring the supply chain down to tens of miles for fresh food delivered the same day it’s har vested, a high-quality product hugely more efficient for carbon emissions ”

A system of indoor farms situated near cities would, in essence, bring the farms to the people who want farm-fresh food Eliminating the time it would have taken to ship the produce means Square Roots products have a longer shelf life Rather

Solula

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“We kettle cook the plantains in small batches Every batch is slightly different These are not Ruffles or Pringles where the size and shape are the same Our tostones have different shapes, different curvatures

That’s what gives them their crispy crunchiness ”

Kettle cooking the tostones is labor intensive, because each of the 10-pound batches has to be agitated by hand with close attention to temperature and timing unlike larger automated plantain chip operations

Solula sources its plantains from local farmers in Ecuador and Guatemala – offering supply chain redundancy for the company, which operates two facilities to produce the tostones

“You never know what will happen,” Pollak said “If there’s civil unrest or a new president, it can shut a country down for weeks at a time Or there may be an earthquake or hurricane ”

Solula prides itself on producing the tostones from the freshest har vested plantains within 48 hours

“Like any other fruit or vegetable, the minute you cut and har vest the fruit, it’s going into survival mode,” Pollak said “It starts breaking down the nutrients to keep alive The faster you get it from the harvest into the final stage, that’s how you keep the natural flavor and nutritional quality ”

Solula Tostones also cut food waste from the company ’ s other operations The bruised or misshapen plantains that aren’t suitable to send to market on their own are than a few days, Square Roots produce has a shelf life of weeks

Peggs and Musk bought a shipping container – wouldn’t it be great if it used to ship produce between countries? – and set it up in Brooklyn, N Y Square Roots, a play on the boxes the produce is grown in and the founders’ background in mathematics, is operating indoor farms in Grand Rapids, Mich ; Kenosha, Wis ; Springfield, Ohio; and Shepherdsville, Ky

Each time Square Roots set up shop, its founders took advantage of emerging technology to make improvements

“Every new farm got even better,” Peggs said “The newest one in Kentucky is fully automated Har vesting in the earlier facilities has to be done by hand It’s taken a long time to understand the hand-harvesting process, but do it in a way that maintains the length of the stem, the leaf, the cut of the stem that maintains the plant quality ”

To help gauge the quality of the produce, in addition to its technological standards, Square Roots enlists chefs for tasting panels

“The taste test is most important,” Peggs said “If it doesn’t taste good, nobody cares what science you ’ ve done Number one is, used to make the tostones

This system also benefits the farmers and their communities, Pollak said, because they can sell more of their crop to the company and earn more money

Solula employs an agronomist to help teach the farmers techniques to keep the soil fertile and guarantees the farmers a place to sell their products to

Solula also instituted an Employee Benefit Package to support its workers, their families and their communities

“Every situation is different It’s how we help people who are loyal to us, ” he said “If it means buying a bicycle so someone isn’t walking three miles to work or if we need to do something with their house, we can help with that as well One employee had a son who was very, very sick and needed surgery We took care of that ”

Solula donated four pallets of equipment from hoses to jackets to boots for one Guatemalan fire department

While Solula hadn’t launched during the pandemic, the company ’ s other operations exporting produce were affected by packing materials shortages and delays in shipping and transporting

Solula’s decision to use sunflower oil has been affected by the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the world’s largest exporter of sunflower oil

“At the time we made these decisions –testing, packaging, all the fun stuff – sunflower oil was the way to go,” Pollak said “It has a lot of advantages over other oils

does it taste good?

We’re proud of our quality ”

Since the farms are hydroponic, no pesticides are ever used, which also means the produce is easier to wash Square Roots uses a closed-loop recirculating system in which nutrients are added to the water and fed to the plants Because the water is recirculated, Peggs said, the system uses 95 percent less water

The downside of growing hydroponically, Peggs said, is that the company can’t get certified organic, since it depends on soil health But the upsides of the Square Roots farming greatly outweigh any disadvantage like that

Partnering with a large food distributor means the produce can go straight from the farms into trucks and into the hands of chefs within hours

Thanks to Peggs’ background in AI, the company uses technology to decide which crops are most efficient and feasible to grow For instance, it’s more economic to produce a lot of leafy greens for salads than a turnip that sucks up more energy

Square Roots uses a smart-farm technology to control the climates within the container farms, from temperatures to LED lighting The company allows customers

It has no aftertaste like coconut oil It has a lot more health benefits than palm oil

“After the war started in Ukraine, the cost of sunflower oil went up 500 percent,” he said “But we ’ re still sticking with sunflower oil because it’s the best quality oil on the market As long as we keep giving our customers the best eating experience, we ’ re going to be successful ” to trace the produce “from seed to shelf,” through its website

Square Roots products include basil, cilantro, dill, parsley and salad mixes: Arugula, Crispy Leaf, Super Mix and Spring Mix

“More people are asking the question of where their food is coming from,” Peggs said “Starting about 10 years ago, the idea of ‘local food is real food’ became a mega trend It’s not a hipster thing, it’s a national megatrend

“We think of our customers as being one of two types,” he said “One is a supermarket shopper and the other is a chef What they both really love is surety of supply ” Whether it’s a pandemic breaking the supply chain or a hailstorm that wipes out a crop, Square Roots has eliminated such threats to its supply chain and claims “industry-leading transparency ”

“God forbid there’s a problem,” he said, “customers can literally scan to see all the way back what happened ”

In the end, Peggs said Square Roots wants its customers happy with the quality of the food and its employees happy with what they are doing

“We have a wonderful team,” he said “What I love about it, we have technologists, farmers and financial modelers all getting into a room to solve a particular problem ” GN value the company ’ s histor y of helping farmers and communities in poorer countries, in addition to enjoying the eating experience

“It’s been a year and a half of developing connections,” Pollak said, “and interest is growing There’s a lot more interest, a lot more knowledge, but we have a long way to go for education

“But the demand is there,” he said “If you give people a great eating experience, something new and different, and the best quality flavor, they will be there ”

Solula Tostones check all the boxes for consumer demands for nutrition: certified non-GMO, gluten free, Kosher, vegan, paleo friendly with no added sugar and simple ingredients – plantains, oil and natural flavoring

By the end of the year, Solula will launch a jalapeño-flavored tostone

“It’s got a nice, spicy kick,” Pollak said

When it comes to marketing Solula Tostones, Pollak said retailers, buyers and store managers are familiar enough with plantains, so it’s not necessary to educate them on the product base

“What is different between a plantain chip and a tostone is the eating experience, ” Pollak said “Once they tr y the product – it’s addictive! I remember growing up as a kid eating plantain chips and thinking, ‘This is not a memorable cracker ’ But now there is This product is different It jumps off the shelves because of its crispy crunch and deliciousness ” Pollak believes U S consumers will

As consumers get more acquainted with Solula Tostones, the company expects to roll out more flavors

“Getting consumers educated on the product is the biggest hurdle,” he said “We want them to understand that plantain chips and tostones are different, just like with apples, Granny Smith is different from Red Delicious ”

While Solula Tostones are tasty enough to snack on alone, Pollak said it’s great with dips and salsas

“They hold up, ” he said “They don’t get soggy like corn-based or wheat-based chips ” GN