What’s Fueling the Greenhouse Boom in Packaged Salads? Cox Farms’ CCO Weighs In
December 2, 2025 
Images from a Cox Farms shoot at the Cox Farms Discovery Center and Bright Farms greenhouse on Wednesday, June 4, 2025 in Macon, GA. (Photo/Julian Alexander)
When Abby Prior started her career in the greenhouse business, growing salad veggies indoors was more of a concept than a commercial reality. What a difference a decade makes.
“Over the course of my 10 years at BrightFarms, I got to help build the fastest growing segment of the salad category,” she says. “Greenhouse-grown is now the fastest growing and most profitable salad category for most retailers.”
Prior was instrumental in leading BrightFarms’ marketing efforts and retailer partnerships. In July 2025, she took on a new role as Chief Commercial Officer for Cox Farms (Cox Enterprises’ indoor agriculture division and the parent company of BrightFarms and Mucci Farms) and now seeks to have the same impact across the company’s wider umbrella.
Changing the Message
In the early days of packaged salads, greenhouse producers primarily advertised how their product was locally grown. “That was the backbone of the greenhouse-grown salad category at the time,” Prior explains.
And while most consumers value locally grown produce, it’s not the key driver.
“Customers want to have a fresher and better eating experience,” Prior says. “Locally grown started off as our main reason for making indoor-grown salads, but our customers are more drawn to the benefits that come with greenhouse-grown produce.”
These benefits include fewer food miles, getting produce from farm to store in less than 24 hours, and increasing its shelf life: traits that are appealing to commercial retailers and consumers alike.
“We are turning a corner where our retailer partners are specifically getting behind greenhouse produce in a way that they backed organic produce over the last 10 to 15 years,” she says.
As a result, greenhouse-grown has become its own category in the fresh produce section of many grocery stores, especially in the eastern U.S., which is home to many large-scale greenhouse operators.
“It has the most momentum of any category in fresh produce,” Prior says. “Consumers want fresher, cleaner, longer-lasting produce, and greenhouse-grown can deliver on that best.”
Working with Retailers
Some of Cox Farms’ longest retailer partnerships — dating back to 2015 and 2016 through its BrightFarms brand — are still strong relationships today. A few notable retailers include Ahold Delhaize USA, Kroger, and Walmart.
“We’ve invested deeply in our partners’ growth over time, and that has determined how we dedicate our capacity,” says Prior. “We want to be their primary growth driver and the partner they come to for solutions.”
Prior says that Cox Farms is just getting started. Established in 2024 with a strong foundation in its BrightFarms and Mucci Farms brands, the company anticipates continued growth in 2026 as demand rises. “We’re looking for partners that really want to think about what’s next, where we’re going to be in five years, and where we’re going to be in 10 years to continue to grow the greenhouse-grown category,” she says.