Today we’d like to introduce you to Megan Prolo.
Hi Megan, we’re thrilled to have a chance to learn your story today. So, before we get into specifics, maybe you can briefly walk us through how you got to where you are today?
I have always enjoyed gardening and growing things, I’m that family member with the pineapple top, avocado seeds, and random things on the counter to grow.
In March of 2023 I decided to take my hobby and open it up to others. I started off with one small 3 three their metal rack and 5 trays and from there it has exploded. We now have a large grow house dedicated to Microgreens. Our goal this spring os to focus on being able to offer more veggies as well at our local farmers market, We truly believe more and more are becoming aware that their food comes from an unknown source, so it’s making them want to meet their local produce, or meat guy and build that connection.
Our microgreens are grown in organically certified dirt and we source our seeds as non-gmo as well. Since we are not a huge corp we have eyes on every tray that goes out the door, we cut fresh to order so you know by the time you get your microgreens they are hours old cut not days. we are truly excited for the future and all the doors that have opened for us. Goals for the up coming years are to educate more and bring more awareness that fresh, local food while it may not look “conventional” is slammed packed with more nutrients and flavor then anything you’ll find at your big corp grocery store.
Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
NO if its a smooth road you aren’t taking enough risks or you haven’t owned a business, Struggles are real in the microgreens/veggie world, I lost 35 trays this past fall due to slacking and not checking the weather. The temps dipped low and I did not have the heat set high enough, lost all the microgreens trays the first day on the racks. Another freeze recently claimed all my beautiful heads of lettuce that I was getting ready to bring to the market. The heat paralyzed last summer and we lost a lot of tomatoes to cracking and bugs. There’s a lot of upfront costs with this field when doing it on a market scale and one bad season can alter that course. Here we try to minimize that, by planting different varieties of things and again it comes back to educating our customers that convince comes from your big corp grocery store that have massive infrastructures to control every environment threat. While we don’t we try to avoid it but there’s no guarantee. We also provide eggs as well and every August ours goes through their yearly molt which is a way for their bodies to prep for winter. Molting means less eggs so in July I’ll start my chat about eggs slowing down so don’t be surprised end of August/September we won’t be able to offer them. At first I got a lot of “push back” like get new chickens this that and the other, then I started to share the process more and again the more they understood the more they became sympathetic to the chickens and actually now they ask how the girls are doing!
Thanks – so what else should our readers know about Crystal Coast Microgreens?
We sell Microgreens, eggs, &veggies, we also educate on how to use all these in your daily meals. I’d say what sets us apart from other is our ability to create those relationships with our customers. Our business model is geared more toward families and those who are looking for a healthy addition to their meals. Most proud of is when a parent comes over and says my kid has NEVER willing ate anything green and here I am handing them a sunflower shoot and the kid is asking the mom to buy some!
We are a family brand, we are a family, we ALWAYS encourage our customers especially first timers to come out and try out our Microgreens. you can look them up all day on the internet but until you try them you will never know what flavors you are going for. I can’t tell you how many customers I have worked with to bring a meal alive, from baby showers to the backyard BBQ we truly do help people paring Microgreens with meals.
We love surprises, fun facts and unexpected stories. Is there something you can share that might surprise us?
I’m an introvert at heart, when my mom first saw me interacting with customers she actually said to me “who are you, and what did you do with my daughter?”
I’ve really come out of my shell because at the end of the day I have the product but to be able to move that product I need to be able to wear multiple hats.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.crystalcoastmicrogreens.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/crystalcoastmicrogreens/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/crystalcoastmicrogreens
