Some men golf, others fish. Bill Schodowski sells flowers.
The 64-year-old from Commerce Township, Mich., dabbled with the idea of retirement in mid 2013. But it took only a few weeks to convince him that leaving the floral industry would make him go nuts—and subject his wife, “the lovely Maggie,” to the same fate.
Rather than hang up his hat following his departure last year from Florist Buying Club, he’s decided to take his 43 years’ experience—which has included positions with industry heavyweights FTD (31 years), Equiflor (3 years) and Delaware Valley Floral Group (6 years) —and channel it into his own venture, BeautifullyFresh.com.
Think of Schodowski as a one-man, online wholesaler. (“For now,” he says.)
The company, which launched Monday, January 6, offers two services: open market sales of inventory at Miami brokerage houses and direct-from-farm orders, sourced from South America. Schodowski answers phone calls and emails “roughly 18 hours a day,” describing product and helping retailers track down the best flowers for their needs.
“My goal is to get high-quality flowers at an affordable price to retail florists with as little effort on their part, as possible,” Schodowski said.
Each morning, by 7 a.m. EST, he emails members a list of what’s available in Miami that day. “If they have an interest, they can call or email me and I will enter the order for them.” The open market inventory changes rapidly, “but it’s a great way to order basics, find a bargain or add a last minute addition to a shipment,” he said. Flowers are never held, so customers have to act quickly, but they can rest assured they’ll never receive old product.
With the farm direct service, retailers list what they need and when, and can include specific requests, such as variety, color, size and vase life. Within four days, Schodowski orders the flowers from one of more than 100 farms in South America, which are then harvested, packaged, delivered to Miami, then on to the customer.
The ultimate goal is for customers to browse photos, read farm descriptions and place an order with one mouse-click. That service was available in BeautifullyFresh.com’s Beta-testing earlier this month, but Schodowski has temporarily suspended it while he makes tweaks based on retailers’ feedback. “I want to do what works best for them, so the process is as efficient as possible,” he said.
Schodowski called online ordering “the key to the future,” as it “virtually eliminates the ‘he said/she said’ that has plagued voice communication efforts between retailers and suppliers for decades.”
He settled on the business model after reflecting on his career to identify what he liked to do and what he did best.
He decided to work with retail florists, based on his first job. “My love affair with this industry started when I was a field rep for FTD,” he said. “That wasn’t so much a sales position as it was about building relationships with retailers and finding out the challenges they were facing.”
He’s continued those conversations for decades and has learned that today’s retailers are very variety driven. “They go to design shows and read Floral Management, where they’re exposed to new flowers they want to try,” he said. “But in this economy, some of their suppliers are hesitant to order anything outside the basics they are certain they can sell.”
A robust Rolodex, filled with brokers and growers, gave him confidence that he could satisfy customers’ orders and give them some peace of mind.
Eventually he’d like to hire— “more bodies mean more relationships built”—and get a California branch going on BeautifullyFresh.com.
Right now, though, he’s delighted to work around the clock connecting retailers with some of his favorite of his flowers, such as the 80-cm Russian cut roses he saw visiting Ecuadorean farms in 2012.
“In my 43 years, there’s one thing I’ve learned for certain about the retail florist industry: good fresh flowers are essential to stay in business,” he said. “Mylar, plush, plastics —these trends may come and go, but the need for fresh product is here to stay.”
The 64-year-old from Commerce Township, Mich., dabbled with the idea of retirement in mid 2013. But it took only a few weeks to convince him that leaving the floral industry would make him go nuts—and subject his wife, “the lovely Maggie,” to the same fate.
Rather than hang up his hat following his departure last year from Florist Buying Club, he’s decided to take his 43 years’ experience—which has included positions with industry heavyweights FTD (31 years), Equiflor (3 years) and Delaware Valley Floral Group (6 years) —and channel it into his own venture, BeautifullyFresh.com.
Think of Schodowski as a one-man, online wholesaler. (“For now,” he says.)
The company, which launched Monday, January 6, offers two services: open market sales of inventory at Miami brokerage houses and direct-from-farm orders, sourced from South America. Schodowski answers phone calls and emails “roughly 18 hours a day,” describing product and helping retailers track down the best flowers for their needs.
“My goal is to get high-quality flowers at an affordable price to retail florists with as little effort on their part, as possible,” Schodowski said.
Each morning, by 7 a.m. EST, he emails members a list of what’s available in Miami that day. “If they have an interest, they can call or email me and I will enter the order for them.” The open market inventory changes rapidly, “but it’s a great way to order basics, find a bargain or add a last minute addition to a shipment,” he said. Flowers are never held, so customers have to act quickly, but they can rest assured they’ll never receive old product.
With the farm direct service, retailers list what they need and when, and can include specific requests, such as variety, color, size and vase life. Within four days, Schodowski orders the flowers from one of more than 100 farms in South America, which are then harvested, packaged, delivered to Miami, then on to the customer.
The ultimate goal is for customers to browse photos, read farm descriptions and place an order with one mouse-click. That service was available in BeautifullyFresh.com’s Beta-testing earlier this month, but Schodowski has temporarily suspended it while he makes tweaks based on retailers’ feedback. “I want to do what works best for them, so the process is as efficient as possible,” he said.
Schodowski called online ordering “the key to the future,” as it “virtually eliminates the ‘he said/she said’ that has plagued voice communication efforts between retailers and suppliers for decades.”
He settled on the business model after reflecting on his career to identify what he liked to do and what he did best.
He decided to work with retail florists, based on his first job. “My love affair with this industry started when I was a field rep for FTD,” he said. “That wasn’t so much a sales position as it was about building relationships with retailers and finding out the challenges they were facing.”
He’s continued those conversations for decades and has learned that today’s retailers are very variety driven. “They go to design shows and read Floral Management, where they’re exposed to new flowers they want to try,” he said. “But in this economy, some of their suppliers are hesitant to order anything outside the basics they are certain they can sell.”
A robust Rolodex, filled with brokers and growers, gave him confidence that he could satisfy customers’ orders and give them some peace of mind.
Eventually he’d like to hire— “more bodies mean more relationships built”—and get a California branch going on BeautifullyFresh.com.
Right now, though, he’s delighted to work around the clock connecting retailers with some of his favorite of his flowers, such as the 80-cm Russian cut roses he saw visiting Ecuadorean farms in 2012.
“In my 43 years, there’s one thing I’ve learned for certain about the retail florist industry: good fresh flowers are essential to stay in business,” he said. “Mylar, plush, plastics —these trends may come and go, but the need for fresh product is here to stay.”
