Molly McCoy and her team started prepping roses and flower bouquets in the early hours of Tuesday.
Most of us know the day as Valentine's, but for McCoy and her startup it's "the Super Bowl of the flower industry." She expects to make as much money on Monday and Tuesday as she will during about six months of the year.
With hundreds of sales and a dozen red roses going for $75 a pop ($95 for two dozen) raking in cash isn't difficult. Nationwide, $1.9 billion is expected to be spent on flowers for the 2017 Valentine's Day holiday, according to the National Retail Federation.
This year is the second Valentine's Day for McCoy's startup Flower Bombers. She said she easily ordered more than 5,000 roses for the day.
That's just a fraction of what other retailers in the state and nation get from South America and other global gardens.
Like deciding inventory for a restaurant, the trick is to not get too few flowers where potential customers are turned away, but also not too many so the business isn't stuck with a room full of roses come Feb. 15.
"It’s exactly like a restaurant. Flowers, like food, are very perishable," McCoy said. "We do the best forecasting that we can based on past years."
With only one other V-Day under its belt, it could be tricky for Flower Bombers. As of Monday, the startup focused on changing the online flower delivery game sold out of its galentines bouquet, but still planned to be taking delivery orders until 2 p.m. Tuesday.
Business & data reporter Adrian D. Garcia can be reached via email at [email protected] or twitter.com/adriandgarcia.
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