FAQ & Guidelines for Horeca and B2B
General information
PLNT is a vertical farm in Antwerp. Our main focus is growing leafy greens, and additionally herbs and edible flowers in various climate-controlled indoor areas, year-round.
We sell, sow, grow, harvest, package and deliver our produce ourselves, and try to achieve this is in the most sustainable way possible. (more info here)
At the moment we supply our produce to restaurants, lunch and coffee bars, diners, offices, self-employed professionals, the people at home, and one really happy guinea-pig.
Growing your produce
Each plant has a minimum time to germinate and grow to a specific size. You can count on minimum 14 days growing time (from sowing to harvest) for leafy greens, 7 to 10 days growing time for microgreens, and minimum 30 days for herbs. These numbers are all indicated in our product list, and divided into these categories.
Each Monday and Thursday, we take the fully grown plants out of their vertical habitat. We harvest and package our produce to get it delivered to your business within 24 hours.
Later on those Mondays and Thursdays, the freed up space is ready for new trays that have been sown in with a fresh batch of seeds or seedlings. Feel free to ask us for any new ingredients you’re looking for and we’ll gladly get in touch with our seed suppliers to find that one specific PLNT!
Availability of our produce
Our growing space is very compact but small (+/-80 square meters), but we are continously looking for ways to maximize the output of our growing space, now and in the future. However, this means that certain products on our listing aren’t readily available for harvest, or are limited in amounts.
To give an example: restaurant X orders 125 gr ‘mexican tarragon’ on Monday, but on Thursday restaurant Y asks for 500 gr of ‘mexican tarragon’. As this herb is not available in large amounts, we need to let it regrow and are only able to trim the fresh shoots 2 weeks later, or even later. Yet, with the right communication and preparation we can achieve a steady supply.
We understand your menus and dishes can change even on a weekly basis, but if you ask for a certain product, make sure do to it in time so we can have a steady and tasty supply available for your servings. (more info in ‘growing your produce’).
Delivery Times
Our crops are being harvested around 12 to 24 hours before they’re delivered to you. Harvesting happens on Mondays and Thursdays.
This means our delivery times are the following:
- Tuesday 10-13h
- Friday 10-13h
Everything is delivered by cargo bike or bike courier.
Depending on your position on our route, you get your delivery earlier or later. Feel free to ask for more information!
We do make exceptions on these specific days, but only if we agree on this from both ends with minimum 10 days notice.
To give an example on some of these exceptions:
- reopening of your business after closing/holidays – example: you start up on a Monday but have no fresh produce to prepare dishes with. we can provide you our produce on Monday morning around 10-11h, with regard of the notice time.
- your business has weekly closing days on our delivery days – example: your business is open from Thursday till Sunday but you have no fresh produce on the start of Thursday. If you are in the near vicinity of our Farm we will gladly deliver our fresh produce to you in the afternoon.
In any case, we’re very open to finding a solution together. Just ask!
Ordering
We really appreciate it if you can send your orders latest 24 hours before delivery. Please refer to our delivery times for more information.
This 24-hour window gives us time to see if the products you ordered are available.
We will always confirm your order in time before sending it to you.
If a certain product is not available, or only in lower amounts, we will inform you asap and wait for your confirmation before sending it.
Each plant species reacts differently to our vertical growing system, and can give either beautiful or sad results. Not very often it goes wrong, but please understand that our harvest sometimes fails due to unforeseen factors. We will notify you as soon as we can if this occurs.
How to order
- get in touch through WhatsApp – we create a small chat group with you, your colleagues, and two of our team. In our opinion this is currently the easiest and fastest way to communicate, ask questions and get direct feedback for each order you place.
- send an e-mail – a bit slower, but a good reliable option. We tend to reply you within the hour on working days (mon-fri 0900-1700), and a bit slower before and after those hours.
- a phone call – not our prefered way, but certainly a good option if you have urgent questions!
- we do not check social media accounts for orders, please refer to the options above.
Issues
If you have any problems that may arise, get in touch directly with our team. We aim to solve everything first-hand and preferably also the same day. We’re very open-minded to your feedback, and use this to improve our operations constantly.
- delivery issues (something went wrong with or during delivery of the boxes/containers/plants – something is missing)
- produce issues (something is wrong with the plants)
- communication issues (i cannot get in touch with you)
- payments and invoicing (i can’t pay for some reason)
- other (you’re in love with our plants but they don’t love you back)
New Customers
no idea where to start? Give us a call and come over for a visit! We’ll receive you with open arms, coffee, a tour of the vertical farm and a taste of our fresh produce.
When is PLNT available
We’re operating on the farm on the following days, not in the weekend.
- Monday: 0900-1700h
- Tuesday: 0900-1700h
- Wednesday: somewhere between 0900h-1400h
- Thursday: 0900-1700h
- Friday: 0900-1600h
These are not our official opening hours, but the hours you can find our team at the farm. Please make an appointment before visiting us – through e-mail, or a phone call.
Communication channels such as whatsapp and e-mail are always open, so don’t hesitate to reach out at the weirdest hours. We understand you also work late.