NEW YORK — On the heels of Gotham Greens’ 10th anniversary celebration, and as the company continues to expand its greenhouse footprint, Gotham Greens is excited to launch a new series of musical marketing partnerships featuring some of the most iconic bands and musicians that shape us and connect us to our communities.
To kick things off, Gotham Greens is proud to announce a partnership with the iconic and beloved band the Grateful Dead on a limited-edition packaging and marketing collaboration that celebrates their shared commitment to sustainability, community, and plant-based eating. The marketing collaboration reimagines Gotham Greens’ best-selling Gourmet Medley lettuce as Grateful Greens with custom packaging featuring the band’s iconic Dancing Bears and a QR code that unlocks curated content, including a custom Grateful Dead playlist to make cooking in the kitchen more joyful. Plus, for every package of Grateful Greens sold, Gotham Greens and the Grateful Dead will plant trees in partnership with Forest Nation, dedicated to preserving the future of our planet.
“Over the years, what has really stuck with me is not only the music itself but also the monumental cultural impact of the Grateful Dead community,” said Viraj Puri, co-founder and CEO of Gotham Greens. “Alongside Gotham Greens’ core commitment to the highest standards of sustainability, cultivating a meaningful community is equally important to us at every level of our company. As we celebrate our continued growth nationwide, it’s the perfect time to highlight our commitment to growing plants that make our consumers excited to introduce more greens into their diets and underscores our deep commitment to the communities we are a part of. Partnering with the Grateful Dead is not only incredible on a personal level but really speaks to our collective passion for preserving the earth and bringing joy back to cooking and eating plants.”
Grateful Greens can be found at grocery stores nationwide, including Whole Foods Market, The Kroger Co., Albertsons Companies, Sprouts Farmers Market, and more, now through September 2022. Gotham Greens will offer a limited number of free gift bags next month, including Gotham Greens’ Grateful Greens salad, a Hedley & Bennett x Grateful Dead apron, and the Grateful Dead’s Shall We Grow Seed Bombs. Expert growers at Gotham Greens’ greenhouses in cities across the country planted green and red leaf lettuce in special Grateful Dead designs to bring the partnership to life.
A Certified B Corporation, Gotham Greens is a fresh food company putting people and the planet at the forefront. Gotham Greens’ sustainable farming practices allow the company to grow leafy greens and herbs year-round while conserving 300 acres of land and 270 million gallons of water annually compared to conventional farming practices. Gotham Greens’ unique irrigation techniques use less than one gallon of water to grow a head of lettuce compared with up to 10 gallons used in conventional open-field farming. Not only does this partnership align with the company’s core values rooted in natural resource conservation and eco-consciousness, but it also reflects the founding partners’ personal passion for the Grateful Dead’s music and its subsequent impact on environmentalism and the rise of plant-based eating.
“As a huge Grateful Dead fan, I’m thrilled to see our launch of Grateful Greens. I was fortunate enough to see the Grateful Dead at Giants Stadium in 1995 and felt inspired by both the music and the scene,” said Jenn Frymark, Chief Greenhouse Officer of Gotham Greens. “The Grateful Dead champions a sense of community that has been inspirational to our values at Gotham Greens. We have worked hard to build a community-minded ecosystem at Gotham Greens that creates a strong sense of camaraderie across our greenhouse locations, partnerships within the neighborhoods we operate in, and designs that respect our relationship with our planet. Growing is both an art and a science, and we continue to work hard to grow more with less, be inspired by nature and produce delicious greens while reducing our environmental impact.”
Dead Heads paved the way for approaching food through the lens of sustainability and following a plant-based, farm-fresh diet.
“Eating your greens has never felt so great,” said David Lemieux, the Grateful Dead’s Archivist and Legacy Manager. “It’s not always possible to ‘think globally, act locally’— but Gotham Greens puts this into action. I love that they grow healthy food near you in incredibly sustainable ways, so the greens don’t have to travel far to get to your plate. Just as the Grateful Dead changed so much of how things were done within the music industry, Gotham Greens is an innovator, too, in making local food possible on a grand scale.”