Indoor farming company Square Roots rebrands

Square Roots, a technology-enabled indoor farming company, debuted Dec. 15 a new brand identity that represents the company’s mission to responsibly bring locally grown food to people in cities around the world, all year round.

Square Roots’ reimagined branding will start to appear on retail shelves, in-store signage, social media, website and more beginning this month.

“Consumers everywhere are increasingly demanding fresh, locally grown food at their grocery store,” Tobias Peggs, co-founder and CEO at Square Roots, said in a news release. “Our new brand identity clearly emphasizes that Square Roots meets those needs. We are all about increasing the availability of local, fresh greens that our farmers grow with love.”

Thanks to its modular smart-farm technology platform, Square Roots deploys indoor farms in urban areas, growing local food for people in cities, while empowering a new generation of young farmers to embark on exciting careers in high-tech agriculture.

“To tell the full Square Roots story, we needed an ownable design with high appetite appeal,” said Mariana Gorn, design director at Square Roots. “Every visual aspect — from our logo, packaging, color palette, photography and more — needed to reflect the vitality of our produce and the care with which we grow. The result is a refreshed brand system that celebrates how Square Roots bridges technology and nature to grow and deliver delicious local food, responsibly, all year round.”

Square Roots collaborated with independent strategy and design company Collins on the new brand system.

“When you have a remarkable, and beyond delicious, product from such a pioneering company, building an inspiring brand comes pretty easily,” said Brian Collins, co-founder and chief creative officer of Collins.

“Our goal in this new brand voice, design and expression is to help Square Roots become an even stronger leader in food, wellness and technology — and accelerate all the meaningful things they are doing for their customers and the communities they serve.”

Square Roots’ new logo aims to balance technical precision of the company’s industry leading, smart-farm platform with organic forms of the food it grows. This can be seen with the juxtaposition between the rounded letterforms and the rectangular counters in the company’s wordmark, which are a nod to the upcycled shipping containers Square Roots incorporates in its farm design.

The brand palette is a collection of vibrant, modern colors abundant in the flavorful food the company’s farmers grow. Square Roots has also created an imagery style and messaging approach that communicates the company’s core values of authenticity and transparency, while providing information that matters most to consumers.

New packaging. For the company’s newly designed packaging, a disruptive vertical label orientation is entirely different from what is on shelves in the produce aisle today. It serves as a nod to Square Roots’ beginnings in vertical farming. The thinner label format showcases more of the company’s product with a clear, bold type hierarchy that stands out on the shelf. And all of the company’s produce is 100% traceable with a scannable QR code on every package, allowing consumers to see how, where, and who grew their greens.

Locally harvested for lasting freshness. To meet rising demand for local, fresh foods, throughout 2021, Square Roots has launched new salad mixes and an expanded herbs range, addressing the $36 billion U.S. fresh packaged produce category. All Square Roots produce has at least 14 days of extended shelf life, is completely free of pesticides and GMOs, and locally grown 365 days a year in the company’s climate-controlled indoor farms.

Square Roots sells produce in more than 250 stores across the country. Fresh greens from Square Roots include:

• Basil: Fragrant, sweet, and bright, Square Roots Basil can be used as a garnish or added during cooking, a green that adds a burst of flavor to any dish.
• Cilantro: An aromatic, clean, peppery balancing herb that is known for its clean flavor. Square Roots Cilantro adds a bright, lemony kick to all meals, from fresh salads to classic dips.
• Dill: An herb that never fails to bring a slightly sweet zing to some of the most popular dressings and dips.
• Parsley: This subtle green is the ideal garnish for almost every dish. Sprinkle Square Roots Parsley on fresh right before serving a meal.
• Spring Mix: This mix bursts with the freshly picked taste of kale, mizuna, tatsoi microgreens and crisp baby lettuce leaves. The Square Roots Spring Mix blend is the perfect base for lighter flavors.
• Super Mix: A nourishing blend of broccoli, kale, cabbage microgreens, and crunchy tatsoi leaves. This salad base stands up to the creamiest dressings and richest flavors.

Square Roots Square Roots is a technology leader in indoor farming with a mission to responsibly bring its locally grown food to people in cities around the world, all year round. Square Roots is setting new standards for transparency and responsibility, while empowering a new generation of leaders in agriculture working to create a more sustainable food system

Founded by serial entrepreneurs Kimbal Musk and Tobias Peggs, its range of fresh produce is available in more than 250 retail locations around the country including Whole Foods Market, FreshDirect, Fresh Thyme Market, Meijer’s market format stores, Morton Williams, Busch’s Fresh Food Market, SpartanNash corporate stores, and Gordon Food Service Stores. Square Roots’ strategic partnership with Gordon Food Service reinforces a larger shared ambition to build commercial-scale, climate-controlled indoor farms together across the continent — enabling local food at a global scale, year round.

For more information, visit www.squarerootsgrow.com.