After starting out growing mushrooms in a three-bedroom rental in suburban Palmyra seven years ago, business partners Adrian Acquado and Derek Novak now supply fresh funghi to more than 150 top restaurants around WA.
The Mushroom Guys grow 17 different varieties of edible mushrooms, including shiitake, lion's mane and pink oysters, plus four non-edible for medicinal supplements at their Kardinya "farm" — two big factory units dominated by large refrigeration units geared to control temperature and carbon dioxide levels.
Spores are inoculated in plastic bags filled with jarrah or blue gum sawdust and lupin hulls (for fiber) before being left to grow in fridges.
Mushrooms are harvested daily and delivered every day, except Sundays. Mr Acquado, who dropped out of his final year of engineering studies at Murdoch University when the business suddenly sprouted, said more than 80 percent of the produce goes to restaurants with the rest sold to the public via farmers markets.
Read more at Perth Now