September 2026 Survey - Results and Conclusions.

Last week we asked our email list a few questions and offered a $6 store credit to everyone who answered. 219 of you responded. Our list is about 2,000 people, so that is roughly an 11% response rate, which is very high for a small business survey. Your credits are already on your accounts 😁.

We ran a survey in May too, but we never showed you what came out of it. This time I want to share the numbers, what they told us, and what we are doing about them. We will also use this internally so we can see the results, and compare at the next survey.

The short version

• The new pickup hours worked. We are keeping them.
• Most of you do not want any other change to how you get your greens.
• The lettuce heads people want more of are the ones that sell out: Buttercrunch, Romaine and Summer Crisp.
• Spinach is the most requested crop. We are testing ways to grow it.
• More herbs are coming. Cauliflower microgreens arrive in about two weeks, with new 2 oz and 4 oz sizes.
• We are making a small apparel line: grocery bags first, then T-shirts and hoodies in early November.

You asked for more hours. Did it help?

In May, “more hours” was the most common request. About 30% of the written suggestions (37 of 124) asked for more pickup days or times. So in July we roughly doubled our hours, from three days a week to Tuesday through Friday 10AM–6PM and Saturday 9AM–6PM.

This time we asked how the new hours are working:

Only one person said the hours are still hard to make work. The 23 people who did not know about the change were mostly occasional shoppers (22 of the 23 do not have a subscription), so this looks like a news problem rather than an hours problem.

Our overall recommendation score also held steady, from +89 in May (160 responses) to +91 now. The other change we made after May was better microgreen packaging, after comments about moisture in the containers.

How you want to get your greens

We asked which one change would make it easier to get Grow Space greens. 81% said nothing needs to change.

Early morning pickup was the most requested change, especially from subscribers (10 of the 15). Our team already arrives before opening to prepare the space for the day, so early pickup would mean staffing the farm around 5AM. We cannot make this work yet, but we will prioritize being open earlier when the opportunity arises. Sundays and New Delivery Routes are not currently in our plans, but we will keep an open mind.

One thing that came up in the comments: you do not need a subscription to shop with us. Anyone can walk in during open hours. We always try to have some leafy greens and microgreens on hand, though the exact varieties change week to week.

How much of your greens come from us

57% of you get all or nearly all of your greens from us. That number looks different depending on whether you subscribe:

We also asked the main reason that share is not higher. The top answer was that it cannot get any higher: you already buy only our greens.

Price came up less than we expected (16 people, 7%). “You don’t grow what I need” mostly meant spinach, covered below. Many written answers were about summer home gardens, and several of you said you lean on us more in winter.

What you would buy more of

Our sales tell us what we sold, not what you would have bought if it had been on the shelf. So we asked what you would buy more of if everything were always in stock. 138 of you answered; leaving it blank meant you were happy with availability.

Our three lettuce heads lead by a wide margin. They sell out for two reasons. Subscribers get the first share of every harvest, and we do not have enough growing systems yet to make more. We are working on both: raising our harvest success rate and adding capacity.

We then compared your answers with what we sold in September. If a product’s share of your votes is much bigger than its share of our sales, we are probably not growing enough of it.

Three products stand out: full-size arugula, microgreen samplers and basil. Each gets a much bigger share of your votes than of our sales. Arugula is one we have been having some small issues with growing, but it looks like next week will be our first full strength harvest sense we increased planting of it a few months ago. Our new microgreen rack should unlock more production for our microgreens meaning the availability should improve for all 7 (soon 8, more on this below) varieties.

A few of you mentioned that Romaine heads have been smaller. That is true. It comes from weaker harvests in the summer heat. As the weather cools and our harvest success rate improves, sizes should be back to normal by winter. Our standards will also be firmer as produce quality improves meaning head size will be more consistent. 

What is coming to the lineup

We asked which one new crop you would most want us to add.

Spinach: we are testing it

Spinach is the clear winner. The problem is space. One of our towers takes about seven weeks to grow roughly three bags of spinach. In the same space, we can grow 44 heads of lettuce. To grow spinach at a reasonable price, we would need equipment built for it.

So spinach is in testing. The question we are working on now is which system can do it: one of our existing systems (ebb and flow, NFT channels or towers), or new infrastructure. We think it may be possible in the ebb and flows or NFTs with minor modifications, but there is a chance we would need specialized growing systems.

Herbs: likely sooner

We have grown herbs before with good results. To grow them well at scale, we need a higher-density NFT system, which means some new infrastructure. We have grown them before in towers, but its the same issue with spinach, we simply wouldn't want to charge the amount it would cost to grow when accounting for the lost space of leafy greens grown. The herbs we are looking at are dill, chives, cilantro, parsley, oregano and sage. We already grow basil.

Cauliflower microgreens: about two weeks away

Cauliflower microgreens got 6 votes out of 219, so I want to be clear about why we are adding them first. Only some of our customers buy microgreens, and among that group the interest is much higher. They are also by far the easiest item on this list for us to grow, and we have not added anything new to our lineup in over a year. We can have them ready in about two weeks.

They will be priced at our standard microgreen rate of $3.50 per ounce. We are also launching new sizes across our microgreens: 1 oz, plus new 2 oz and 4 oz sizes. We have yet determined the price on these new sizes, but there will be a "bulk discount" baked in.

Swiss chard, collards and others

We have grown swiss chard and collard greens before, and our current systems can handle them. Mustard greens and leaf lettuce would likely be similar. What is missing is demand, so they are on hold for now. We may make these greens seasonal, but if we get enough interest these would be easy to add to our grow list.

Yes, we are making Grow Space apparel

People keep asking, so we asked everyone. 57% of you (125 people) said you would buy or consider at least one item.

The grocery bag is the clear favorite, so it comes first. The design votes were a near tie:

With no clear winner, we are going with simple line drawings of the produce we grow, with the Grow Space logo as a key part of each design. That keeps it stylish and clearly ours.

• Grocery bags first. The first, logo-only bag should be ready in the next few weeks.
• T-shirts and hoodies are planned for early November. Hoodies will come in small quantities.
• Prices may change. The prices in the survey include a small cushion for the problems that always come up with a first product run. The prices would be lower, not higher.

Stickers came up a few times as write-ins. We already give away plain lettuce stickers. We also need a new supplier for our packaging stickers, and when we find one we will look at more artistic designs. Depending on cost, those may be something you buy rather than a freebie.

What you tell your friends

We asked how likely you are to recommend Grow Space to a friend, on a scale of 0 to 10. 188 of 219 of you (86%) answered 10.

We also asked what you would tell a friend about us. We sorted the 66 written answers by theme:

Freshness was the clear leader. A few answers in your own words:

“Lasts 2x as long as grocery store items”

“Fresh! Lasts for weeks! No waste!”

“The difference in taste and texture, compared to grocery store lettuce is truly amazing. If you haven’t tried it, you wouldn’t believe it, and once you do, there is no going back.”

“Having a neighborhood urban farm by Kenoshans for Kenoshans is something I always wanted here and never thought I’d see.”

16 of you said yes and 57 said maybe to sharing your experience on camera. Thank you. We will reach out over the next few months.

Other things we heard

• SNAP/EBT: This is on our list. Our Shopify point-of-sale system makes it complicated, so we do not have a date yet.
• The pickup area: A few of you said the entrance and pickup space could be more inviting. That includes the planter by the door, which we should be growing something in. We have made some improvements to both areas, but there is still further we would like to go.
• Also on our list: recipes and public tours. 

What we decided

For the record, here is everything we decided from this survey:

• Keep the current pickup hours: Tuesday–Friday 10AM–6PM, Saturday 9AM–6PM.
• No early-morning, Sunday or new delivery options for now.
• Add cauliflower microgreens in about two weeks, at $3.50 per ounce.
• Sell microgreens in 1 oz, 2 oz and 4 oz sizes.
• Keep testing spinach. Work toward herbs (dill, chives, cilantro, parsley, oregano, sage), which need a higher-density NFT system.
• Adjust planting toward full-size arugula, microgreen samplers and basil. Keep increasing lettuce head capacity.
• Launch apparel: a logo grocery bag in the next few weeks, then produce line-art T-shirts and a small run of hoodies in early November.
• Swiss chard and collards stay on hold until we see more demand.

Thank you for taking the time to answer. See you at the farm.

— Robert