We were thrilled to catch up with the Maine Flower Collective, a member-owned and member-run group of flower farmers across the state of Maine.
They strive to cultivate a collaborative and sustainable floriculture industry of local flower growers and professionals interested in selling and purchasing seasonal blooms as a reliable alternative to imported wholesale flowers.
Their “why” includes a belief that it should be convenient to sell and purchase local flowers, and that their community and local economy benefits from growers reaching a larger network of buyers and vice versa. They believe in building community and in achieving more by working together, while also prioritizing exceptional freshness and high-quality flowers. They set high standards for the blooms and products sold through their collective - and it shows!
Read more about the collective, the members, and the local flower movement in the feature article, “The Maine Flower Collective Wants You to Pick Locally Grown Bouquets,” in Down East magazine!
You can learn more about Maine Flower Collective by checking out their website and keep up with them on their Instagram.
What is your production season?
April to early November.
What are some ways you intentionally build trust with your growers and buyers?
Consistent, clear communication and maintaining our quality standards are a must! Recognizing and featuring the amazing products that our growers are selling and highlighting the beautiful work that our buyers produce with that product is great, but making sure our focus is on delivering the highest quality product is critical. It is ultimately the quality of our product that keeps people coming back and wanting to continue to participate.
Investing time into developing relationships with our growers and buyers individually, and creating opportunities for collaboration, education, and networking shows that we care about the success of their businesses in working to strengthen the ties between us and the local floriculture movement as a whole.
What are some things you’ve improved on this past year?
This was our first season, so it took some tweaking of our weekly ordering and delivery schedules to figure out what worked best for everyone, but we can tell many of our growers have improved in their ability to predict their availability a week out.
We were able to gather so much helpful data through the Rooted analytics tools and our member surveys, which have been published into reports, bloom calendars, and even helped us to update our quality standards with new varieties!
This data has been priceless in helping our growers tweak their growing plans for this season, and for buyers to build their business plans and proposals knowing what local varieties will be available at what points throughout the growing season.
What features or aspects of Rooted do you find most valuable or unique?
The analytics are incredibly useful! The data are extremely useful in helping growers plan for production, helping buyers plan their budgets, and forecasting variety availability, and they’ve been an invaluable tool for us as a collective to track our sales, volume, and many other important patterns.
How has the Rooted platform improved or streamlined your workflow?
It streamlines our invoicing, grower payouts, and breaks down all of the information into easily digestible and organized categories. Having pack lists, availability, and invoices be so easy to update creates a well-structured workflow when we are aggregating orders at the hub, helping keep everything running smoothly.
What would you say to a group that is considering joining Rooted as a new or existing collective?
Rooted is an incredible option to connect with local growers and buyers to streamline your operations, keep all of your data in one place, and keep everything organized and efficient. The educational opportunities and support that their team provides are priceless. You won’t regret it, you’ll just wish you had joined sooner!
