Cincinnati favorite pizza chain LaRosa's is making some big moves when it comes to their dining options. They recently debuted vegan cheese and plant-based meat toppings, and now they are switching to hydroponically grown lettuce.
Starting this week, all of their salads will be made with lettuce from Pure Green Farms in South Bend, Indiana.
“While we’re best known for pizza, we also serve tens of thousands of salads a year,” said Mark LaRosa, president and chief culinary officer of LaRosa’s, in a release. “We’ve used iceberg lettuce in our salads for years. But recently, we’ve experienced inconsistent product quality, primarily from California growers due to weather conditions there as well as difficulty getting timely delivery. The baby leaf lettuce from Pure Green Farms solves both issues. It’s fresh and tastes great."
Pure Green Farms will grow 10,000 pounds of baby leaf lettuce per week for LaRosa's, according to a release. Their 174,000-square-foot hydroponic greenhouse uses a nutrient-infused water (hence the "hydro" in hydroponic) instead of soil, which LaRosa's says "uses 90% less land, no pesticides, no herbicides and 95% less fuel to ship."
"Hydroponic farming already grows lettuce faster. And they are nearby in South Bend. Put those things together and it means our guests will be enjoying salads where the lettuce was harvested less than a week before it was served. That’s a fresh salad," LaRosa said.
For more information or to find a LaRosa's location, visit larosas.com.
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