Kamil Slowik is the founder of Smågrønt, a small indoor farm that produces microgreens – miniature plants that are packed with flavour and nutrients. He supplies high-end restaurants and consumers in Stavanger, a vibrant harbour city in Norway, with around 15 different varieties of these delicate and fresh crops. His passion for plant biology and indoor growing has led him to create a successful business that surprises and delights his customers.
Smågrønt started as a combination of chance, research and Kamil’s long-standing interest in growing plants indoors. “Everything involved with indoor growing has been my passion for more than 15 years,” he says.
Kamil has a degree in psychology, but he was not satisfied with his career in corporate psychology. He moved from Poland to Norway “to try something else, to take a year off”. He liked the country and decided to stay with his wife and start their own venture.
He had been experimenting with growing in his tiny apartment for some time, trying to become more self-sustainable. He wanted to develop his own farm and explored many different options. When he travelled to Thailand, he discovered microgreens – plants that are harvested at a specific stage of growth, between the cotyledon (the smaller, initial leaves) and the first true leaves.
He was impressed by the potential of microgreens, which are ideal for indoor growing and have a quick turnaround time of seven to 10 days. He also valued their nutritional benefits. “The majority of microgreens contains from five to 20 times more vitamin and nutrient values compared to grown-up plants,” he says.
He did more research and experimentation at home, and launched his business around three years ago. He soon found a market among the local restaurants, who appreciated his high-quality, local crops and direct contact. “Stavanger is quite a small city and all the chefs know each other,” says Kamil. “They are interested in high-quality, local crops and direct contact with the producer, so it was quite easy for me to get into the loop.”
He says he was lucky to choose Stavanger as his new home. “It is very vibrant. The area is one of the biggest producers of crops and because of that the restaurants are very high quality – with two Michelin-starred. This is very unusual for a small city. People are keen on high quality food and open-minded, and it is a great entrepreneurial environment.”
Smågrønt offers around 15 different varieties of microgreens, including mustard, broccoli, sunflower, sugar peas, red cabbage, carrots and radish. The next challenge is to connect more directly with customers. Smågrønt does home deliveries, farmers markets and supplies some grocery stores, and Covid-19 has seen the direct-to-consumer side provide 100% of his income. But Kamil wants to spread awareness of his miniature super crop.
The farm’s current bestseller is radish – “it’s quite big, it’s crunchy and it has a lot of radish taste, which is spicy, intense and very interesting,” explains Kamil. But his favourite is shiso, a Japanese microgreen that has a floral and fruity flavour. He likes to pair it with his other passion – coffee. He advises to pour espresso – preferably Ethopian or Kenyan beans – onto a shiso leaf, and enjoy the taste. “You will bring out more of the floral and fruity flavours, which I think is fascinating. You get much more aromas which enhance the flavour – it’s a great marriage.”
