Key takeaways
- Tom Van Wingerden highlights diversification as a core risk-management strategy in greenhouse operations
- Van Wingerden Greenhouses reduced dependency on single buyers after losing a major wholesale account
- Fundraisers and garden centers provide stability and direct customer engagement
- Proprietary software enabled the scaling of fundraising programs without added operational burden
- Consumer data is increasingly shaping production and product mix decisions
Tom Van Wingerden on growing up inside a greenhouse business
For Tom Van Wingerden, the greenhouse industry is not a career path discovered later in life, but an environment he grew up in. Van Wingerden Greenhouses, based in Washington State, was founded by his father in the late 1970s and expanded steadily over the decades.
“We grew up right next to the greenhouse,” said Tom Van Wingerden, Sales Director at Van Wingerden Greenhouses in a recent conversation on Greenhouse Success Stories. “We could wander in and out as we pleased… and it was a great way to raise a family.”
Today, the business operates approximately 15 acres of indoor growing space and remains family-run, with several siblings actively involved in day-to-day operations.
