Guides
Florist suppliers: the practical version
Florist suppliers differ on flower quality, season, minimums and delivery fit. Here is how to test each wholesale partner against your own shop.
What to take away
- Match the house to the job. A distributor covers weekly staples, a grower-direct shipper covers variety, and a hard-goods house covers vases and foam. Two or three accounts is normal.
- Ask six things before you signcurrent price list, minimum order, cut-off time, delivery days and zones, credit terms, damage policy.
- Price per stem is the weakest number in the file. Pack count, arrival condition and delivery timing set the real cost.
- Test a new house on one week of ordinary orders before you give it a wedding date.
Four checks that outrank price
- Condition on arrival.Ask what happens when a box lands with broken stems or botrytis.
- Season fit.Imported roses in February and local tulips in April come from different houses.
- Minimum order.A $50 minimum suits a corner shop. A $500 minimum suits a hotel contract.
- Delivery window.A truck that lands at 4pm into a full cooler has arrived late, whatever the invoice says.
Four supplier checks
- Quality on arrivalcredits for broken stems
- Seasonmatch house to buying season
- Minimumdo not open an account you cannot fill
- Delivery fittruck time vs cooler space
Two or three accounts is the working answer for most shops. The volume you turn decides which minimums you can carry, and the florist business plan is where that number belongs.
The houses, grouped by job
These are real wholesale and hard-goods houses. Terms move by season and by region, so the last column lists what to confirm before you order.
| House | What it is | Best for | Confirm |
|---|---|---|---|
| DVFlora | Wholesale distributor, cut-flower range | Weekly staple stock | Minimum, cut-off, zone |
| Kennicott Brothers | Wholesale house, Midwest and national | Steady volume | Seasonal minimum, holiday allocation |
| Mayesh Wholesale Florist | Regional wholesale, roses and hydrangeas | Buying by variety | Variety list, box count |
| Jet Fresh Flower Distributors | Miami importer, South American stems | Imported stock at short notice | Freight timing, arrival guarantee |
| Florabundance | California grower-direct | Farm-level quality | Shipping minimum, pack size |
| Mellano & Company | California grower, field and greenhouse | West Coast shops | Delivery radius, season window |
| FiftyFlowers | Direct buyer, bulk quantities | Weddings and events | Lead time, handling |
| Blooms By The Box | Bulk flowers for events | Small event work | Lead time, substitutions |
| The Floral Reserve | Wholesale for designers | Studio florists | Account minimum, delivery days |
| Syndicate Sales | Hard goods, vases and foam | Restocking supplies | Case packs, freight |
Supplier types at a glance
Wholesale distributor
- Examples
- DVFlora, Kennicott
- Product
- Wide cut-flower range
- Suits
- One weekly truck
- Minimum risk
- Steady volume needed
Grower-direct
- Examples
- Florabundance, Mellano
- Product
- Farm-level stems
- Suits
- Farm-level quality
- Minimum risk
- Seasonal availability
Hard goods
- Examples
- Syndicate, Accent Decor
- Product
- Vases, foam, containers
- Suits
- Restocking supplies
- Minimum risk
- Storage space needed
Which supplier for which shop
- Corner shop with walk-in tradeone distributor truck, DVFlora or Kennicott Brothers, with a hard-goods account such as Syndicate Sales.
- Wedding and event workFiftyFlowers or Blooms By The Box for volume stems, plus a grower-direct house for the hero blooms.
- Studio florist selling by varietyMayesh Wholesale Florist or The Floral Reserve.
- West Coast shop wanting farm qualityMellano & Company or Florabundance, both shipping shorter distances.
- Shop importing directJet Fresh Flower Distributors, with a customs broker ready.
For walk-in bouquets under $60, the distributor route wins on convenience. Bulk event houses look cheaper per stem and can cost more in processing time. The florist pricing and profit guide sets out how cost per stem and markup meet.
Example: testing a quote against your current house
Take a 20-stem bouquet. Your current house charges $8 for the stems and you sell the arrangement at $45. A new house quotes $6.50 for the same stems. Across 100 bouquets a month, that looks like $150 saved.
Then the parts the invoice hides. Assume 8 percent of stems arrive unusable. That is 1.6 stems a bouquet, about $0.52 each. Assume the truck also runs late twice a month, and conditioning takes 20 minutes each time. At $18 an hour, that adds $12.
Breakage costs $52 a month and rework $12, so net saving falls to $86, or $0.86 a bouquet. Under a dollar, with a second delivery day to manage, is thin.
Run the test for one week anyway, then shift half your weekly order only if net saving holds above $1 a bouquet.
Checks before you open an account
Run these five in order. Set the delivery days against your inventory plan so the schedule matches the cooler space you have.
- Ask for the current price list with pack counts and grades, not one per-stem figure.
- Confirm the minimum order and whether it drops in slow weeks.
- Get the cut-off time, delivery days and delivery zones in writing.
- Ask for the damage and credit policy, including who pays freight on a return.
- Run one week of ordinary orders before you commit a holiday date.
Season, year and border costs
Wholesale minimums, freight surcharges and holiday allocations are set by season or by contract year. A current sheet is the one you can hold a supplier to, and last year's minimums are only a starting point. Availability moves the same way, and USDA AMS market news reports what is shipping by region.
Canadian shops buying direct add border costs to the landed price. The CBSA importing guide sets out the steps and fees for a commercial import.
Wire service membership is a separate decision from wholesale supply. If you compare membership fees, the FTC guide to advertising covers what a business must state clearly when it quotes a price.
How much to hold of each variety is the next problem. The inventory and sourcing guide works through it variety by variety.
Common questions
How many suppliers should a small shop use?
Two or three. One primary for weekly stock, one backup for emergencies, one for hard goods. Any more and you lose the volume tier that matters at Valentine's.
Is a cheaper supplier always worse?
No, but the saving has to survive arrival. Weigh breakage, late delivery and unsellable stems against the invoice price.
Does grower-direct save money?
Sometimes, if you can take volume and collect the box. It usually means larger minimums, so it suits steady demand better than walk-in trade.
