25th anniversary celebrated
MINNEAPOLIS — Koehler & Dramm’s Institute of Floristry, here, is celebrating its 25th anniversary this year under the direction of Ardith Beveridge, its director and one of its instructors.
Beveridge told The Produce News that the institute is the only school in the United States that is part of a wholesale florist.
“Being located in a wholesale floral facility allows students to have experience with a much greater variety of flowers and practical experience with the dynamics of the supply chain,” Beveridge said.
Maximizing foil balloon sales in your supermarket floral department
We all know that balloons are an easy, low-cost way to increase add-on sales or to add value to existing products in the floral department. The initial start-up costs are relatively low, and the training needed by the floral staff to inflate and maintain balloons is minimal. Still, we often hear from our customers who are not maximizing their efforts and who ask us, “What can my store do to improve balloon sales?”
Following are a few suggestions accumulated over the last 30-plus years.
Continental Floral Greens acquired by Idaho-based Great Day Group
Great Day Group in Sun Valley, ID, announced in a news release the acquisition of Continental Floral Greens, headquartered in San Antonio, TX, and one of the country’s older and larger suppliers of decorative greenery, flowers and hard goods. With the completion of the acquisition, the current company will make a subtle, but significant name change to Continental Floral LLC.
Avocados from Mexico rolls out new promotional tools
ANAHEIM, CA — As the promotional arm of the largest worldwide supplier of avocados, Avocados from Mexico faces a challenge of devising programs to move a crop of fruit that eclipses 1 billion pounds annually.
SAF manual provides handy guidelines
The Society of American Florists announced in a news release a new and informative resource for floral industry professionals.
As the holiday season approaches and floral departments begin hiring seasonal workers, managers can be ready to answer any care and handling questions they may have with the SAF’s Flower & Plant Care: the 21st Century Approach, written by Terril A. Nell and Michael S. Reid. Keeping a copy on hand will allow employees to refer back to it if managers are not available to answer questions.
Bachman’s and Lunds & Byerly’s — Twin Cities’ blooming partners
MINNEAPOLIS — For more than 100 years the Bachman family has been growing flowers here, and for 75 years the Lund family has been operating grocery stores here. A budding floral partnership was launched over four decades ago.
Dine & Design show kicks off holidays
MINNEAPOLIS — The 2014 Dine & Design Holiday Show was held at Kennicott Bros. Co., here, Oct. 8 and Maureen Mc-Kiernan, branch manager, told The Produce News that over 150 people attended, representing 64 floral shops. Vendors included Smithers Oasis, Syndicate Sales and AMC.
“It was great to get so many of our customers to come in,” said McKiernan. “Many had never been to our new facility and they seemed excited to be here.”
PMA Fresh Summit draws record numbers, invigorates attendees
As a first-time visitor, I was extremely impressed by the sheer size and bustling energy of the Produce Marketing Association’s 65th Fresh Summit Expo. The three-day event, Oct. 17-19, drew more than 22,400 people from over 60 countries to the Anaheim Convention Center in Southern California and featured 1,090 exhibitors in more than 265,000 square feet of show space — record-breaking numbers for the PMA.
Florida perishable importers launch Globally Grown initiative
A group of Florida perishable importers have launched a Globally Grown initiative in order to promote international agricultural products that are brought to market, according to a news release. Globally Grown is an emerging campaign that aims to connect floral and produce growers, importers, wholesalers, retailers and consumers with one another in an effort to work together and promote the products for which they are known.
Ready or not, here come the holidays
Well, here it comes, the busy holiday season is upon us — are you ready? Hopefully, you have many things for which to be thankful, not only on Thanksgiving Day, but every day of the year.