Proven Culinary Food-As-Medicine, Indoor Agriculture Team Takes the Reins of Florida’s Largest Indoor Specialty Gourmet Mushroom Farm
October 13, 2026 | 5 min to read
MIAMI, Florida — Ahead of National Mushroom Day on October 15 — Mastermind Mushrooms has taken the reins of Florida’s largest gourmet mushroom facility, located in Miami, and now operates the site as Mastermind Mushrooms at Lion Farms under a strategic partnership with Lion Farms.
Lion Farms is an organic regenerative agriculture farm. From a single Miami production base, the operation supplies freshly harvested gourmet mushrooms to Foodservice, Retail Grocery, Cruise Line, and Caribbean export buyers across Florida. Value-add, functional ingredients such as dried fruiting bodies and powders are available now for sampling, with scaled production to follow. Mastermind Mushrooms is currently on the shelves of a leading grocery retailers including Whole Foods Market (in select Florida locations) and is available through premier South Florida foodservice distributors.
Mastermind Mushrooms is Family-Owned and Operated. The team behind the transition are multi-decade leaders in the indoor agriculture sector and built and operated Florida’s first large-scale indoor food production facility, through the indoor agriculture group, Seed2Source, founded by Jennifer Waxman, Adam Wright, and Jaime Giroux. That background is uncommon in specialty gourmet mushrooms, where most operations are built by small cultivators rather than by operators who have carried a large-scale facility through commercialization, third-party audits, and food safety certifications.
Scale is the second part of the story. With a 2-story production growing space in Phase 1 coupled with production volume available to supply and service the state of Florida (and beyond), the Miami facility is sized for demand that no single channel can absorb on its own.
Foodservice draws on chef-driven specialty varieties at the freshness a kitchen needs; Retail Grocery draws on the consistent weekly case count a produce buyer can commit to; and Cruise Line and Export opportunities are supported by the quality and shelf life needed for specialty items not typically available in these distribution channels. Most gourmet mushroom growers in the Southeast are built to serve a single channel — this facility is built to serve all of them, simultaneously, with logistics and distribution support to distribution centers, direct store delivery, and the like.
The Production Facility
| Location | Miami, Florida (Redland) |
| Operator | Mastermind Mushrooms |
| Site and land partner | Lion Farms – Organic Regenerative Agriculture Farm |
| Scale | Largest, scaled Specialty Gourmet Mushroom farm in Florida |
| Varieties | Lion’s Mane, Coral Tooth, Blue and Golden Oyster gourmet mushrooms. Contract growing available for additional varieties. |
| Channels served | Foodservice, Retail Grocery, Distributor, Cruise Lines, Functional & Culinary – Value-Add Ingredients, and Caribbean Export |
| Food safety and certification | GLOBALG.A.P., USDA Organic, Kosher, and Grown to Regenerative Agriculture Standards |
“Florida has been importing gourmet mushroom product from out of the state of which loses its best days in a truck. Our Miami facility fixes that at scale, with year-round production (no seasons), and now it has an operating team that has done this before. The quality growing SOPs, succession schedules, food safety program, and the complete traceability — that is what lets a buyer count on the same case, the same week, every week. That is the difference between a farm and a supplier.”
— Jennifer Waxman, Co-Founder & CEO, Mastermind Mushrooms, Miami, FL
For Lion Farms, the partnership puts cultivation specialists in the grow rooms while the farm continues its regenerative land practices and education across the wider property. For Mastermind Mushrooms, it means starting from a facility already at commercial scale rather than from a construction schedule.
“We wanted this operation run by people who do this for a living, so that we could focus on agritourism, community education and outreach, as well as our regenerative agriculture, tropical fruit, and worm composting farm. Bringing in a team that we know and trust that has built and certified controlled environment production before was the right move for the farm and for our customers.”
— Peter Fedele, Founder, Lion Farms Regenerative Agriculture Farm, Miami, FL
Alongside its own production program, the facility offers contract growing for specific varieties, giving distributors, chefs, and retail buyers a route to unique varieties outside the standard lineup without carrying the cultivation risk themselves.
Food-as-Medicine and Local Food Systems are at our core. Gourmet mushroom varieties are known for optimal wellness and brain health. Value-added, functional lifestyle products and food manufacturing ingredients are available now for sampling, with scaled production to follow and several new products in development for culinary and nutraceutical ingredients.
Mastermind Mushrooms at Lion Farms is actively onboarding foodservice buyers, retail grocery accounts, and distribution partners across Florida and the Caribbean. Chefs and buyers who want the freshness and consistency of mushrooms harvested to order — and distributors evaluating a Florida-grown alternative to imported product — are invited to request a wholesale account, schedule a facility visit, or arrange a product sample. We would love to meet with you at the International Fresh Produce Association (IFPA) show in Orlando, Florida.
About Mastermind Mushrooms
Mastermind Mushrooms is Florida’s largest commercial-scale, gourmet mushroom producer operating at Lion Farms in Miami, Florida. Founded by Seed2Source, the team that developed Florida’s first-ever, large-scale indoor production facility, this facility surpasses the utmost in food safety with GLOBALG.A.P., USDA Organic and Kosher certifications. The company supplies fresh and functional, gourmet, specialty mushrooms including Lion’s Mane, Coral Lion’s Mane, Blue Oyster, Golden Oyster, and various Contract Grow varieties to foodservice, retail grocery, and export channels throughout Florida and the Caribbean. Dried ingredients for food and nutraceutical manufacturers and culinary foodservice are available now for sampling, with scaled production to follow. An expanded Functional Lifestyle product line is also in development.
About Lion Farms
Lion Farms is a USDA-Certified Organic, GLOBALG.A.P.-certified regenerative farm located in the Redland Agricultural Area of Miami, South Florida. Founded by Peter Fedele on 15 acres of regenerative agriculture, the farm has grown into a 149-acre agricultural and research campus that integrates controlled environment mushroom cultivation, agroforestry, aquaculture, and vermiculture into a single closed-loop system. Spent mushroom substrate is composted into OMRI-listed worm castings, waste is converted into biochar, and nutrients are recycled across the farm rather than leaving the property. Beyond production, Lion Farms operates as a research platform, hosting field studies and student placements through partnerships with Florida International University, the University of Florida, and regional agroecology programs. The farm also welcomes the public through guided Saturday tours, workshops, and academic collaborations, extending its mission beyond food production into education and regenerative leadership.