Last week Bob Idell and I traveled to Las Vegas to meet with an impassioned group of retailers at the Florists For Change conference. It was a great meeting and we thoroughly enjoyed our time with them and helping advance the Florists For Change initiative. With all of the industry setbacks over the last few years, passion has been minimized while the focus has been on industry and personal shop survival. It was great to see the “passion” reignited once again within the group.
The goals of the Florist Buying Club & California Floral Solution are similar to those of FFC. In a word it's "profitability. Over the past few years,retailers, have pretty much “cut all of the fat” that there was in their shop operation. Unfortunately, it seems like all of my industry friends are working harder than ever and settling for less. FBC & CFS were established to help reduce the financial burden of the retail segment by taking a couple of links out of the fresh product supply chain as a direct “farm-to-retailer” operation employing 40+ farms in South America and 20+ farms in California. Our goal is to provide the retailer with a positive impact on the cost of goods in their operation and increase the freshness of the product that the retailer and their customers will greatly enjoy.
Going forward, 2013 and beyond will be pivotal for the Florists For Change movement.The “toolbox” that the FFC Board identified is very significant and we all understand our role in bringing more retailers into this FFC advocacy group. Before Bob and I took the “Red Eye” Wednesday evening, we started to put together a plan that would help benefit one of the objectives for Florists For Change. Our management team was highly supportive and very receptive to the plight of the retail segment and we are happy to announce that, effective August 5th, FBC & CFS are getting firmly behind two major initiatives.
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