Thanks to a grant from McGill University, where she had just graduated from the agriculture department, Ophelia Sarakinis began growing strawberries in a Kirkland underground parking garage. Her experiment did bear fruits, literally. Four years later, the now-25-year-old entrepreneur moved her operation to an industrial sector of the city. With full staff, experience management, and a strawberry production of 15,000 plants in its first year of production, she can provide fresh berries year-round under the name GUSH Farm.
Sarakinisi was able to start GUSH farms with venture capital investment from Montreal's Broccolini family.
Quebecers eat a lot of them – but they're usually imported from California or Mexico 10 months of the year. "They grow a strawberry that's not tasty. It has low sugar content so that it doesn't rot as quickly for shelf life," said Sarakinisi. She spent years studying and experimenting with the fruit .
Strawberries for the masses
"We start with the niche market, people who care about gourmet food, and then eventually we're going to have strawberries for the masses," said Sarakinis. If Sarakinis' business model takes flight, expect more strawberries and other fruits to be locally grown and available year-round.
Read the article on Montreal news