How to Buy Flowers & Start a Floral Design Company

Write a business plan that takes into account all expenses and how much profit is needed to stay in business. Define your customer base and how you will attract your clients. Think about advertising costs as well as rent, delivery vehicle expense and the cost of inventory. Stocking your new floral shop with supplies such as ribbon, shears, buckets and cards is a major startup expense. Some business you can depend on, such as Valentine's Day and Mother's Day, while other business is seasonal. Summer is the slowest time for the florist business and there may be several days in a row with little or no business during this time.

Find a visible location with plenty of foot and vehicle traffic. Flowers are often bought on impulse, so visibility is important. A large display window helps attract attention and shows potential customers what is available in your shop. You will need a floral cooler large enough to store buckets of flowers as well as large floral arrangements. Fresh flowers will not last more than a few days without proper refrigeration and hydration.

Check local ordinances for new businesses with your local chamber of commerce or city clerk. Contact your local County Agricultural Extension office to find out what horticultural licenses are needed in your state and how to obtain them. Other legal issues are registering the name of your business with the county clerk's office and obtaining a business taxpayer ID number from the federal and state government. You cannot buy wholesale flowers and greenery if you do not have the necessary horticultural licenses and state and federal tax ID numbers.

Establish a relationship with a floral wholesaler. If you live in or near a large city, there is probably a wholesale florist supplier available near you. Look in the yellow pages or online for a floral wholesaler in your city. Most wholesalers will deliver flowers within a 100-mile radius of their location. Another alternative is to by wholesale flowers on the Internet and have the flowers delivered by a delivery service. While buying flowers online may save money, there is usually no return policy and there is no guarantee on the condition of the flowers once they arrive. Floral wholesalers do not require a contract, because most work on a cash-on-delivery basis. However, a few wholesalers allow you to open an account after you have an established a floral design business.

Occasionally, local growers may offer you fresh floral product. They are a good source for seasonal flowers, but the quality of flowers offered by a local seller may not be the same as flowers from longtime professional growers who grow high-quality pest-free flowers under controlled conditions for a low price. Also, local growers may not be able to deliver a specific product on a specific date. For example, if the local grower is growing 1,000 sunflowers for a wedding and a storm destroys the crop, or they aren't blooming on the date needed, you will not have another alternative to get the product needed on short notice. A wholesaler takes the responsibility for finding the flowers you need when you need them.

Order flowers in correct quantities. Most flowers are sold in bunches, and the larger the flower the less flowers in a bunch. For example, large sunflowers are sold in five-stem bunches, snapdragons are sold in 10-stem bunches, roses are sold in 25-stem bunches and large flowers such as protea are sold by the single stem. Foliage, and some flowers such as chrysanthemums, are occasionally sold by weight. Becoming familiar with the standard quantities in which flowers are sold by your wholesaler prevents you from over- or under-ordering.