With Urban Cultivator®, your indoor gardens can grow healthy and organic vegetables, herbs, and microgreens anywhere, anytime.

Grow it, Cook it, Eat it. No transportation, no middlemen, no recalls.

Grow What You Want

Grow a long list of herbs, microgreens, vegetables, and flowers in a completely automated indoor growing appliance.

Perfect Growing Conditions

The Urban Cultivator's pre-programmed control center makes sure your greens get exactly the right amount of water and light, and the onboard fans control humidity and air circulation.

Greens for a Fraction of the Cost

The Urban Cultivator Commercial can cut herb and micro-green costs in your restaurant by up to 90%, paying for itself in about one year!

How it Works

The Urban Cultivator provides a self-contained growing environment for herbs and greens. Lights imitate the sun’s rays and an irrigation system delivers water and nutrients from the reservoir to the plants. The automated system provides everything for the plants at the correct times and measures so that your herbs and greens grow all year round.

Stop by and see the Urban Cultivator® or order online today!

The Zero-Kilometre Diet

Hyper-local food sourcing, sustainability, food waste management, and house-made products are just a few of the trends emerging in the foodservice industry. For many restaurants and business owners these trends are not always easy to achieve, especially for those who face limited space or lack access to farm fresh product. The desire to bring the freshest ingredients to every customer has prompted companies, such as The Urban Cultivator, to create products that are not only sustainable but revolutionary, further pushing the boundaries of what is possible in a culinary context.

The Urban Cultivator has taken the concept of ‘hyper-local’ and created a product that can produce herbs and microgreens year round. Using a computer-controlled hydroponic growing system the Urban Cultivator allows chefs and home cooking enthusiasts to access a variety of different herbs and vegetables any time of the year, even when certain produce is considered out of season. Their mission is simple: “...provide for each and every family access to healthy and organic herbs, vegetables, and microgreens, while reducing our carbon footprint. We want to create a wholly sustainable culture where delicious, fresh food is the focal point.”

There are two models users can choose from: the UC-C (commercial unit) and the UC-R (residential unit). The residential UC can grow up to 4 flats of vegetables and herbs while the commercial unit can produce up to 16 flats at one time. Both the home and commercial unit operate in the same manner. Each has automatic air circulation, ensuring that temperature is consistent and ideal for whatever greens you decide to grow. The flats are watered on a designated schedule which is chosen by the user and maintained by the unit. Each unit comes with custom formulated plant food made from 100% organic nutrients ensuring that each flat is organically grown and produced with no chemicals or pesticides. The UC ‘floods’ the trays with this nutrient-dense solution during a specific cycle and will empty the water after a set amount of time.

What makes the UC an innovative product is its ability to connect chefs and consumers to their food and reduce their carbon footprint. Just ask Oats and Ivy in Toronto; they currently have their own UC and love that they can provide their customers with fresh local food all year round. Co-owner Marina Cortese mentions that by having the UC it minimizes the distance food travels, which maximizes its nutrients. “Having the Urban Cultivator right in our store means some of our food travels zero kilometres! It really doesn’t get fresher than that. We are able to reduce our water consumption as the system regulates it for us. We also are able to grow fresh, healthy food without the use of pesticides or damage to the soil, all of this reduces our carbon footprint.” The UC is a conversation starter. The sleek modern design and large glass doors allow restaurants to display the unit and also lets customers see the quality of the greens they are consuming. Marina mentions that her customers ask what the UC is and what they are growing inside. “It gives us a chance to connect with our community and get in touch with what we are consuming.”

Each one of these units is fully automatic and equipped with a variety of settings to ensure that growing is simple, fast, and manageable. The computer inside each unit controls watering and light cycles, as well as activates built-in fans so that proper humidity and air circulation is maintained throughout the growing process. Seeds grow within 5 to 7 days and require little to no attention. The only manual task that the user must complete is to add an organic fertilizer once a week to enhance and encourage growth.

Due to the budget constraints facing many restaurateurs, a question that often arises is what the return on investment will be. The Urban Cultivator has suggested that within months of purchasing this unit restaurant owners can reduce their food costs up to 90% on products grown in the UC. The Urban Cultivator has provided the following example to better illustrate just how much one can save: “A bag of pea shoots—roughly 200g in weight—costs around $6.99 at Whole Foods Market. You can grow four flats of pea shoots with one container of pea shoot seeds— which costs $15.99—in an Urban Cultivator. One flat grows roughly 430g of shoots, which averages out to about $2 per 200g.” This results in savings of over 70% for this specific product. The product mix of each restaurant will dictate the overall savings, but this example demonstrates the potential return that the UC can provide.

From conception the Urban Cultivator has strived to deliver a product that could produce locally sustainable and quality food. A product where chefs would be able to harvest seconds before they were ready to plate. The UC has made it possible for restaurants to have fresh food at an affordable price. Russell Hendrix currently has demo units of the Urban Cultivator in the Calgary, Vancouver, Toronto and Ottawa showrooms. We have had the opportunity to grow and harvest our own greens and witness just how remarkable this product is.