One letter, one distributor, one commodity gap.

I am writing to introduce IronRoost Farms, Inc. — a vertically integrated Virginia C-Corporation (SCC #12012225) headquartered at 2593 Cougar Lane, Locust Grove, Virginia — and to ask for a buyer conversation about adding a local hydroponic microgreens line to the RRS Foodservice produce portfolio ahead of our first commercial harvest cycle in August–September 2026.

IronRoost is standing up a 2,000–3,500 sq ft indoor Controlled Environment Agriculture (CEA) facility in Central Virginia, with a planned Phase 1 product mix built around the four microgreen lines broadline buyers consistently ask for and routinely struggle to keep year-round. The facility is on track for a 7–10 day harvest cadence off 50–90 4-tier racks, with cold-chain dispatch from an on-site walk-in cooler. Because we are intentionally keeping Year-1 volume on the conservative end of the equipment baseline, we are reaching out as a local producer that can commit, not a producer pitching a number it cannot yet hit.

The goal of this letter is a short conversation: what RRS is seeing on the Richmond and Charlottesville microgreens accounts today, what would make a Central Virginia grower a useful part of that line, and whether a conservative 200–400 lbs/week floor is a meaningful starting supply for the procurement team.

The Phase 1 commercial offering covers four microgreen lines: pea shoots, sunflower microgreens, radish microgreens, and mixed brassicas (a combination platter of kale, arugula, mustard, and broccoli rabe micro). These are the four lines most broadline buyers carry as table stakes for the produce department — they substitute for one another in plated applications and are the most common source of the “in-consistency gap” between contract and walk-in orders that RRS, like any regional broadline, will be familiar with.

Additional herbs and specialty micro varieties — basil, cilantro, amaranth, and similar secondary lines — are in the queue for Phase 2 rotation once the primary four lines are at consistent volume and the Phase 1 harvest schedule has stabilized. If RRS has a specific additional line that already has demonstrated pull-through in the Richmond or Charlottesville accounts, that request will be folded into the Phase 2 queue ahead of the baseline schedule.

Our equipment baseline is a 2,000–3,500 sq ft indoor grow environment with 50–90 4-tier racks — roughly 800–1,440 standard 1020 trays of canopy at full fill. At a 7–10 day harvest cycle per tray, that baseline can produce approximately 500–900 lbs of finished cut microgreens per week depending on variety density.

For the first commercial cycle, we are committing to a conservative floor of 200–400 lbs per week across the four varieties — prioritizing reliable harvest-date accuracy and order confirmation over headline volume. That is the number RRS should plan around for Year 1. Year-2 supply scales as the facility fill-rate increases; we will not commit a higher number today than we are certain we can hit on a recurring weekly cadence.

Distribution is twice-weekly refrigerated delivery to the Richmond/Charlottesville corridor. The primary drop windows are Tuesdays and Fridays, 7 AM–12 PM, with the second truck of the week staging out of our dispatch cooler from the night before. Orders need to be confirmed by 6 PM on the day preceding each delivery; emergency same-day add-ons are available with at least 24-hours’ notice.

Indicative ex-farm pricing (year-one holds, held for a 12-month first-supply window; annual review thereafter): pea shoots $12–$14/lb (4 oz clamshell, $3.00–$3.50 retail pack equivalent); sunflower $10–$12/lb; radish $14–$16/lb; mixed brassicas $13–$15/lb. All pricing is ex-farm, packed in labeled food-grade clamshells or bulk food-service flats per RRS spec. Minimum order is 20 lbs per variety per delivery run; mixed cases combining the four varieties in an even split are available on request.

The 12-month pricing hold is intentional: for a buyer evaluating a new regional supplier, the meaningful first-year question is consistency, not price-point concessions. We compete on year-round reliability, two-day harvest-to-door transit time, and a true local story before we compete on dollar-per-pound.

IronRoost is operating on the VDACS regulated-facility filing path. The cottage food exemption does not apply to microgreens — microgreens are classified as Time/Temperature Control for Safety (TCS) produce under the FDA Food Code, and the production floor and cold-chain dispatch have to meet regulated-produce standards, not cottage-food standards. The VDACS filing is in process; related regulatory registrations will be completed before the first commercial harvest.

GAP (Good Agricultural Practices) pre-audit is in progress. HACCP plan development is underway concurrent with facility commissioning. Trace-back lot numbering — plant date, harvest date, and lot ID linked to each case — is already implemented in our harvest SOP. Cold-chain integrity from the harvest table through dispatch is documented; the walk-in cooler maintains ≤41°F pre-dispatch. IronRoost will provide Certificates of Analysis from an accredited lab for the first three harvest cycles and on request thereafter. The full third-party GAP audit is targeted for Q1 2027 once the first harvest cadence has demonstrated stable, repeatable volume.

This section is intentionally left as a structured reply prompt so the procurement team can respond in one pass. A reply that addresses all three items puts the next step — a formal supply proposal — on the same five-business-day turnaround regardless of supplier volume.

(1) Current weekly volume by category. What is RRS’s current weekly volume (in lbs/week) for each microgreen category — pea shoots, sunflower, radish, mixed brassicas — across the Richmond and Charlottesville accounts? Splitting contract vs. walk-in, if easy, is welcome but not required.

(2) Current primary supplier and sourcing friction. Who is the current primary microgreens supplier on these accounts? Which of the following friction points is most acute this year: supply inconsistency, lead times, minimum-order size, transit distance, or price volatility? One line is enough.

(3) Decision-maker contact and best call window. A preferred decision-maker name on the RRS procurement side, with the best 20-minute call window in August 2026 for a buy-side conversation. IronRoost will match the reply with a formal supply proposal — including a per-line volume tier, a delivery-day aligned forecast, and a labeled-pack spec sheet — within five business days.

Thank you for the time. We will follow up by email to ironroost-farms@polsia.app early next week if no specific reply has been logged. The first commercial harvest is a fixed date on our roadmap; the conversation is the variable. Whatever the answer, the message gets a same-week written response.