Mothers Day in the world of Cut Flowers has to be seen to be believed.
To try and give some context, most people can picture what Christmas is or might be like for the industries it affects. You will see the increase of products on shelves and the dramatic increase in seasonal staff in Tesco. You might even see ALL the tills open in Lidl or Aldi. Imagine that. You can picture the extra you buy for you own household and, given some thought, could start to understand what a similar increase multiplied by millions of households across the country might look like.
The key difference however is the time scales that this covers. Christmas is clearly one day, but in essence it spans all of December, with parties and get togethers and general festivities stretching out for a while, with a big day in the middle of it all. Mother’s Day differs from this, in that everything is leading up to 1 single day.
The industry can see 10x uplifts in orders for this one week. How on earth is anyone supposed to manage that kind of a difference for a 1 day wonder!? But the flower industry in the UK and across the world manages to do it year in year out. It is nothing short of an heroic effort, especially having just done it for Christmas and Valentines not too long before.
The logistics to get 10’s of millions of stems into the UK, from places like Colombia, Kenya, Israel, Holland, Thailand, China, Spain and Italy is no mean feat. Then to get the man power trained to deliver the quality that is demanded is impressive in itself. What you are left with at the end, is a key group of people who will have been pushed to brink to deliver happiness to millions of Mothers across the country. And the best thing is that most of them will still be smiling at the end of it and will start planning next year almost immediately.
So next time you pick up a bunch of flowers, spare a thought for the industry that makes it happen and all the unsung heroes that work in it. We salute you.
Get in touch with our executive recruitment consultant, Morten, here!
