California Flower Mall flower market businesses are optimistic following a successful — yet challenging — December, almost half of the businesses surveyed in a recent CFM poll say they’re expecting Valentine’s Day sales to increase over last year — even in the face of ongoing concerns about product availability, supply chain disruptions and that the holiday falls on the Monday after Super Bowl Sunday on the three-day President’s Day weekend.
“There will be plenty of flowers for loved ones to show each other how much they care, despite the logistics issues we’re experiencing behind the scenes. The biggest flower distribution challenge we face is the disruption of South American airline routes. Air cargo routes have been restructured due to the pandemic. It’s creating a bottleneck for the flower industry that relies heavily on rose and flower products from Colombia and Ecuador. The good news is that Los Angeles has the largest, cheapest, most robust flower industry in the U.S. We have easy access to flower growers in California and Mexico that the rest of the country envies,” says Gersain Bustos, owner of the Growers Direct Flowers chain.
“Flower businesses here are like mother nature, they’re resilient. They always find a way to adapt and thrive. Due to pandemic driven inflation, we’re all having to dig deeper into our pockets to get to where we’re going. Transportation for the finest roses in the world is no exception. We urge the public to shower florists and flower businesses with extra love, care, patience and appreciation during the Days of Love. It is their busiest time of the year, and CFM family businesses are doing their very best in a difficult business climate – nearly two years into this pandemic – we’re still all in this together,” says Mark Chatoff, owner and president of California Flower Mall.
Learn more about the global flower supply chain and distribution networks here: https://californiaflowermall.com/cold-chain-freshness/