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2018 World Floral Expo Booth Registration is Now Open
We're pleased to announce that WFE Booth Registration is now open. WFE will be happening in Chicago, IL from March 20 - 22, 2018 and HPP Exhibitions is once again offering extremely attractive pricing for CalFlowers members to exhibit at this year's show. It would be hard to find a better opportunity to reach Midwest and Atlantic Coast customers than WFE in Chicago.
Click Here to sign up to exhibit today!
If you have questions, please contact Monnaie Pepin at: [email protected]
FedEx Steps Up to Help Carpinteria Growers
With the recent wildfires, unpredictable weather, and now dangerous mudslides affecting many parts of California, it seems our flower shippers have had a lot to think about lately. With our growers in the Carpinteria area now affected by the closure of HWY 101 due to mudslides, logistics has been particularly challenging for our carriers, especially FedEx.
The main FedEx hub servicing Santa Barbara and Carpinteria is located in Goleta, which is just outside of Santa Barbara but north of the mudslide / Highway 101 closure. Unfortunately, timely operational access to the area from their Goleta terminal is not currently possible or practical, so another option had to be secured. With careful coordination between CalFlowers, our Sales Exec Marni Serlin, and FedEx Operations in Oxnard, south of Carpinteria, we were able to stage a truck for the shippers in Carpinteria to meet and drop off critical floral shipments to FedEx. Packages would then be handled and processed by the Oxnard Terminal in route to LAX for flights to Memphis or Indianapolis.
The latest news from Cal-Trans is that Highway 101 is predicted to re-open Monday, January 22nd but delays have been common and are to be expected.
We want to especially thank FedEx Sales and Oxnard Operations for the creative logistics offered and successful relief given to our members in Carpinteria. Your efforts have all been greatly appreciated.
If you have questions, please contact Chris Johnson - [email protected]
Do We Have Your Correct Info?
We keep track of your demographic business info and your Line(s) of Business, to help us better serve our membership.
We are preparing to print the 2018 Membership Directory. We want to remind all members that it is important to make sure that we have your most current information so that others in the floral industry can contact you and do business with you.
An Update Form was mailed out via US Mail to all members in December. If there are demographic changes, please return the form to the CalFlowers office no later than January 31:
- Email to [email protected]
- Fax to (831) 479-4914, or
- U.S. Mail to the address at the bottom of this newsletter
If you did not receive an update form, please email changes that you would like made to your profile to Linda Long: [email protected]. You can review your current listing by looking at your hardcopy 2017-2018 Membership Directory. If you are a new member since the most recent directory printing, or you don’t have access to a hardcopy directory, you can review your listing online at www.CAFGS.org and click on Search then By Member.
Your LINE(S) OF BUSINESS is also critical information to have in our database, so that CalFlowers can contact you with “line of business-specific” news. Please review your Line(s) Of Business that we have on file. To do this, you can login and follow the easy 4-step instructions listed here: https://cafgs.memberclicks.net/assets/docs/qrg-lob-update-v1.pdf.
The Lines of Business include: Association, Broker, Grower, Importer, Internet Retailer, Shipper, Specialty Produce & Herbs, Supplier of Goods, Supplier of Services, Transportation Provider, and Wholesaler.
Thank you for keeping your data up-to-date!
Featured New Members of the Month
Bouquet Bar
Bouquet Bar is a new gifting company, which launched in January 2017 and is rapidly redefining “The Art of Gifting.” Founders David Yusuf, Alex Amidi, and Sal Alexander took a simple idea to make the gifting experience unique and meaningful and brought it to life with the birth of Bouquet Bar.
David Yusuf and Alex Amidi are the owners of the glamorous floral design company, Square Root Designs, which grace lavish hotel lobbies such as the iconic Four Seasons Beverly Wilshire Hotel, the Ritz Carlton Dana Point and some of the most exclusive weddings and events in Southern California. The duo was continuously approached by clients in search of the perfect floral gift and it was quickly evident that customers were looking for something different and innovative, but more importantly something that would be consistently perfect.
 David and Alex teamed up with product and technology expert Sal Alexander, and together they ensure that Bouquet Bar focuses on bringing excellency to floral design, in combination with a variety of delightful treats, creating the perfect luxury gift at the click of a button.
Click here to learn more about Bouquet Bar.
Bubbles and Blooms
Bubbles and Blooms is a non-profit outdoor bouquet business located in the parking lot of Sam's Chowderhouse in Half Moon Bay, CA. Their bubble bowl arrangements offer their Associates a simple way to create something beautiful by rotating the bowl and placing flowers into the empty spaces.
Bubbles and Blooms exists to provide employment opportunities for people with special needs. A person with special needs often finds that employment is not accessible to them and as a result, in California, over 75% are unemployed.
In order to make employment more accessible, employees are offered two-hour shifts that are compatible with their schedules. The hope and expectation is that each Associate will be equipped with both competence and confidence to take the next step to reach their dreams.
One of Bubbles and Blooms Associates, Mike (pictured left) is shown here refreshing himself after first refreshing the flowers. Who says that you can't have fun on the job?
Click here to learn more about Bubbles and Blooms.
Transportation
As a reminder, new shipping rates and program information for 2018 is up on the CalFlowers website. Members using their log-ins can access this information anytime. Rates on FedEx, GSO, and OnTrac can all be found on our website. For questions or comments on any of our programs, please contact Chris Johnson at [email protected].
FedEx:
For those members using FedEx who expect to ship large volumes over the Valentine holiday, we strongly encourage daily communication with your local FedEx operations terminal. FedEx will be very busy during this time, so effective communication regarding expected shipping volumes will be critical to successful shipping.
Did you know that FedEx has a free service that will evaluate your packaging as well as make recommendations on how to improve it? Now you can learn the secrets of cost-conscious packaging from the pros. With packaging resources from FedEx, successful shipping is just a phone call away at 800-633-7019 or [email protected].
GSO:
Just a reminder that GSO does offer 3rd Party Billing. It just needs to be set up in advance with GSO. There are a couple of ways to do this, so we would recommend shippers contact GSO directly and let them know you want to set-up a remote (3rd-party) shipper. They can take it from there and explain how works. If you have any questions, please contact Chris Johnson directly at [email protected].
NOTE: Transportation Rate information and documents are viewable/downloadable (as PDFs) on the CalFlowers Members Only site. Please note that these documents are considered sensitive material and are available to the primary contacts for Ag Buddy, Associate Floral, Associate Grower, and Floral members only.
To access the Members Only site, simply login using the Member Login button in the top-right corner of our website.
Click here if you don't know or don't remember your username and/or password. This document will help you login.
New Members
In December 2017, we were pleased to welcome the following new CalFlowers members:
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Associate Floral
Continental Farms
Miami, FL
Flowers & Flores International
Phoenix, AZ
Mears Floral Products, Inc.
Springfield, MO
Associate Grower
Buygreensdirect.com
Pierson, FL
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Floral
Bouquet Bar
Irvine, CA
Bubbles and Blooms
Half Moon Bay, CA
Kahuna Flowers Inc.
McKinney, TX
Nisie's Enchanted Florist
Los Alamitos, CA
Rancho Alvarez
Live Oak, CA
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