Check Out Tony English’s Story

Today we’d like to introduce you to Tony English.

Hi Tony, it’s an honor to have you on the platform. Thanks for taking the time to share your story with us – to start maybe you can share some of your backstory with our readers?
My business partner Jake Savageau and I were horrified at the living conditions of the homeless in Denver in 2017. We decided to do something about it. I deigned a new way of growing vegetables in a hydroponic system that would hang off of the side of shipping containers. Basically – we would take used shipping containers and transform them into livable structures that grow food on the outside. Sounds great, right? The county of Broomfield at that time time would not allow us to do so. So instead it hit us – why don’t we put our new hydroponic design inside the shipping container and have portable farm that can feed people for pennies. Hence Farmboxfoods was born.

Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
Elon Musk said it best – “it is like chewing broken glass looking into an abyss”. This was uncharted territory for us. Starting a business so revolutionary without knowing if anyone would actually buy our product was crazy in retrospect. Not only did we have to design something that has never been built before, but we had to comply with building and restaurant codes in addition to making a vertical hydroponic farm that works 24/7 in every possible weather condition. Thankfully we hired the right people and produced a truly revolutionary design that is still working 8 years later.

Appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?
I am a Realtor by trade. I have a small real estate brokerage that saves consumers a lot of money. I had zero experience in building something of this magnitude – that is where my partner Jake stepped in. Jake was in the construction industry and I invented the vertical hydroponic system. Together – we started a company that now ships our hydroponic and mushroom farms in shipping containers all over the world.

What would you say have been one of the most important lessons you’ve learned?
Whatever you estimate the cost of starting a business – it is actually about 20 times that amount. Pick the right partners and hire the right employees.

Pricing:

• Pricing start at $225k for our vertical hydroponic farm.
• Our Gourmet Mushroom farm starts at $250k.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://Farmboxfoods.com
• Instagram: Farmbox Foods
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/farmboxfoodscolorado/
• Twitter: @farmboxfoods
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC8SznvfVNcPB-VMW0Vsal8Q