Fifth Season, the AI- and robotics-equipped indoor vertical farming startup founded in 2016, announced expansion plans for its second farming facility and the hiring of several tech and food industry executives for leadership roles within the fast-growing Pittsburgh-based company.
Following the success of its flagship vertical farm in Braddock, the company is now eyeing Columbus, Ohio, for its second farming facility, which, like its Braddock location, will use end-to-end robotics-assisted automation to grow and harvest various leafy vegetables that are then packaged and sold as salads, mixed greens or in variety packs. The Columbus facility, expected to be operational by 2023, will span 180,000-square-feet, about three times the size of its original location, and will be powered in part with solar energy and an onsite microgrid. The company did not disclose where in Columbus it plans to build the farm.
The central Ohio location will also allow the company to sell its products at retail locations from Cincinnati-based grocery giant Kroger Co. (NYSE: KR). Fifth Season currently sells its produce at Giant Eagle locations across the Pittsburgh region as well as in coffee shops, restaurants and other food-providing businesses.
To help with the expansion efforts overall, Fifth Season announced the hiring of Brian Griffiths to serve as the company's chief financial officer. He has three decades of experience in the finance and tech industries including posts at semiconductor company Skorpios Technologies as well as Credit Suisse, Guggenheim Partners and Spurrier Capital Partners.
"From my 30 years of experience in technology, it was immediately clear to me that Fifth Season is in a league of its own," Griffiths said in a company press release. "We're positioned to continue being the most capital-efficient company in our sector and rapidly scale our business."
Fifth Season also announced the hiring of Varun Khanna to serve as the vice president of food products and Glenn Wells, who will serve as a senior vice president of sales. Khanna's prior experience includes positions at Sabra and Chobani, while Wells joins following leadership positions at Quaker Oats, Welch's and Dole.
"We've proven the viability of our model, and we're pushing forward into high-growth mode with leaders who will use our scalable platform to innovate and increase distribution now, not five years from now," Fifth Season's CEO and one of its three co-founders, Austin Webb, said in the release. Brac Webb, chief operating officer, and Austin Lawrence, chief technology officer, are the Carnegie Mellon University spinout company's two other co-founders.
Fifth Season is now expecting to scale up to more than 100 full-time employees by early 2023. As of July 2021, it had about 80 workers.
