Paradise Flowers & Gifts | Application Preview
Paradise Flowers & Gifts is seeking government grants to replace their recently lost delivery vehicle, as they currently rely on a personal vehicle for deliveries. The business plans to enhance revenue during slow periods, like summer and early year vacations, by focusing on party planning and event services.
As a small family-owned business with nearly 11 years of experience, Paradise Flowers & Gifts has a rich history, beginning as a side project for owner Rosa, who has 15 years of experience from working at Michaels Arts & Crafts. The shop officially opened in 2012 after Rosa navigated challenges during the recession.
The primary competition comes from online third-party corporations such as 1800Flowers and Teleflora, which leverage local florists while taking a significant cut of the revenue. Paradise Flowers emphasizes the value of contacting local florists directly for better pricing and quality. In their city, Redwood City, they also collaborate with four other flower shops, viewing them more as partners than competitors.
The business's competitive advantage lies in their custom order approach. Unlike larger florists, they do not maintain a stock of pre-made arrangements, ensuring that every order meets individual customer preferences. This strategy not only caters to diverse tastes but also helps maintain the freshness of their flowers by keeping them in water and refrigerated for as long as possible.
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General Information
Business Registration Number: Paradise Flowers & Gifts
Location: Redwood City, CA, United States
Length of Operation: 11plus
Number of Employees: 1-10 Employees
Annual Gross Income: Less than $100k
Annual Gross Expense: Less than $100k
Open to Loans: NO
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Funding Usage
We recently lost our only delivery vehicle and we need one asap. At the moment we are having to depend on our personal vehicle, but we need a good size cargo van if possible.
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Business Plan
To focus more on party planning/events towards the slow seasons which tend to occur during the summer time as well as the beginning of the year when people tend to travel and are on vacation. We are a small family business. We have had our store front now for almost 11 years, before that we did this as a side job/hobby on the weekends for friends & family events. Rosa the owner & designer worked at Michaels Arts & Craft for 15 years where she got experience with artificial flowers but then the recession happened and her full time got cut to part time, she starting brain storming on opening a boutique. In 2012 is when we were finally able to open our own Flower shop.
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Self Identified Competition
Our biggest competitors are the on-line 3rd party corporations like 1800Flowers, Teleflora, FTD, From You Flowers etc. These are known in the floral industry as Order Gathers. They gather orders, send them to local florist that work with them and the florist are the ones that do all the work for bare minimum. That why we try to inform our customers to not place orders on-line but to contact a real local florist for any floral needs. That way the consumer know exactly what they are getting and for the full amount. Whereas with the order gathers, florist have to pay them their share plus 30%, that a lot of loss of revenue at the end of the month. 2nd-In our city of Redwood City along with us there are 4 other flower shops, but we don't consider them our competitors. Because we work with 2 of them where if we need flowers or merchandise we trade off or sell between each other. Because we are the smallest location in our shopping center, we are not able to have premade arrangements. So like Jack-in-the box, we don't make it until you order it. For the reason too that we find that not everyone has the same taste in flowers and or colors. We feel that we would loose if we had premade that did not sell. Also it helps to keep flowers fresher and longer in they are kept in water and in the cooler as long as possible with their stems long.
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