April 2, 2025 • 38 mins
Every florist knows the struggle, designing the perfect arrangement, then stressing over how it’s delivered. Frustrated by last-minute disasters that can turn a beautiful creation into a logistical nightmare. Say goodbye to delivery stress! Christine Foley, of Caddy Up Solutions, designed The Flower Caddy to transport floral arrangements safely, efficiently, and stress-free. Learn how she turned a common floral frustration into an eco-friendly, Made-in-USA solution that saves time and money. A solution created by a florist, for florists – assisted by the National Inventors Club. Chris offers ideas for identifying problems and creating solutions in your floral business. She also includes helpful money saving tips for wedding prep. Read the blog or listen to the podcast to learn more.
How we Bloom podcast is an oasis of flower ideas. Host Sharon McGukin of Smithers-Oasis North America interviews floral guests who dare to do things differently. We listen, learn, explore new opportunities and that's how we bloom!
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Christine Foley (00:04):
life is amazing and great and you could have
anything you want in life.
It all starts with aconversation.
Sharon McGukin (00:59):
Every florist knows the struggle, designing
the perfect arrangement, andthen stressing over how it can
survive delivery.
Wobbly vases, shiftingcenterpieces and last minute
disasters can turn a beautifulcreation into a logistical
nightmare.
What if there was a better way?
(01:20):
We all face challenges in ourdaily work, but inventive floral
designers create their ownsolutions.
Christine Foley, founder ofCaddy Up Solutions, often felt
frustrated that despite endlesshours of pre-planning and
production delivery could feellike a last minute scramble.
(01:40):
knew there had to be a betterway to get flowers from vase to
venue while managing In FullBloom, a Long Island florist,
Chris applied her design skillsto solving delivery Having spent
over 40 years in the floralindustry, she's always done
whatever it takes to make thingshappen.
(02:01):
Like selling her car to open herfirst flower shop.
Through decades of experienceand an entrepreneurial mindset,
Chris realized that one of thebiggest challenges in floristry
isn't just creating flowers,it's delivering them.
Determined to find a floraldelivery solution for flower
(02:22):
transportation.
Chris invented the flower caddy,a game changing echo friendly,
lightweight, and durable productdesigned to transport flower
arrangements safely andstress-free.
A solution created by a florist,for a florist.
(02:42):
Chris joins us to share how shetransformed a common floral
frustration.
Into an innovative solution andto encourage each of you to
identify problems and createsolutions with your own game
changing ideas.
Christine Foley (03:02):
Thank you.
Thank you, Sharon.
I appreciate that.
That's a beautifulacknowledgement thank you for
that
Sharon McGukin (03:09):
that bringing a product to market is a lot like
I felt about when I brought abook to life by self-publishing.
It's sort of like giving birthto a baby.
It's a lot of planning,
sharon--_1_02-28-2025_112530 (03:22):
a lot
Sharon McGukin (03:22):
of work, and a lot of nurturing that goes on, I
would suppose.
Christine Foley (03:28):
absolutely.
And you know, to do all that,keeping your eye on the vision
and the purpose.
And that's exactly.
You know, You hit hiccups alongthe way, but you know what it's
going to do to help others, andthat's, you know, purpose.
Sharon McGukin (03:44):
brings that passion for the product, knowing
that this is something that'sreally needed.
And florist are very inventive.
Trained to look for solutions.
chris-foley_1_02-28-2025_ (03:54):
Yeah, yeah, yeah,
Christine Foley (03:55):
Agreed.
Sharon McGukin (03:55):
sitting with one of the flower caddies, and what
I is it fits a lot of differentsizes of containers, like six
inch, nine inch, and 11 inchLomey dishes, along with
sharon--_1_02-28-2025_112530 (04:08):
a variety
Christine Foley (04:09):
Yep.
Sharon McGukin (04:12):
Tell me what made you choose to create
something.
You can do it from one side andit has the, the Lomeys or
another round container, andthen flip it over and you can do
the cylinders.
What brought you to this?
I.
Christine Foley (04:30):
That's a great,
chris-foley_1_02-28-2025_11 (04:30):
um,
Christine Foley (04:31):
question.
And I have to say, the
chris-foley_1_02-28-2025_11 (04:34):
you know,
Christine Foley (04:34):
when I started, you know, after having my flower
shops,
chris-foley_1_02-28-2025_11 (04:38):
you know,
Christine Foley (04:38):
I was raising my kids I went through some life
changes, went through a divorce.
And this woman asked me to comeand help her develop her store
for the wedding and eventbusiness close to home.
I could be there for my kids.
And, as we were that, What Ifound every time I put flowers
in the refrigerator, I would bepopping off, at that time, Polo
Roses, which were like the newPlaya Bianca, that it is today.
(05:02):
They would just.
Pop off because we would put'emin the refrigerator and moving
the flowers, you know, you neverhave the right space.
You think the space is bigenough, but then you say, oh, I
forgot we have to do the escortpiece.
So we have to always jostle andmove product.
So I always felt we were losingso much dollars with the heads
(05:27):
being damaged and bruised.
chris-foley_1_02-28-2025_11 (05:29):
um,
Christine Foley (05:30):
I just quick grabbed a piece of styrofoam at
the time and put it on there andthat worked.
But then our pieces got granderthen,
chris-foley_1_02-28-2025_11 (05:39):
you know,
Christine Foley (05:39):
I doubled up the styrofoam and then I used.
Wooden picks and then the picksbroke.
So what am I to do?
So just being innovative andeverybody thought it was a great
idea.
You should do oh wow.
You didn't know how much workand time and effort was it
really came back.
(06:00):
I'm be,
chris-foley_1_02-28-2025_11 (06:00):
um,
Christine Foley (06:01):
really transparent here, is that.
I'm a person that say what youdo, do what you say and follow
through with it.
And my boys said to me, mom,what happened to that idea you
had?
I thought you were gonna dosomething with it.
And I said to myself, well, Idon't really know how.
So what do we do when we don'treally know how to do something?
(06:24):
You become an advocate and doyour own research.
So I joined an Inventors club.
And I shared the idea withlike-minded people, and from
that it just pivoted and I justgot more questions and things
answered for me and brought itback to my team.
And through that we wanted tocome up because I know florist
(06:47):
is stingy.
We always wanna give, I wantedto give florist when they're
chris-foley_1_02-28-2025_11 (06:53):
um,
Christine Foley (06:54):
the value.
So how can I make this productso great and how can we look at
it and critique it in many ways?
So it
chris-foley_1_02-28-2025_11 (07:03):
um,
Christine Foley (07:04):
gives them the value and
Sharon McGukin (07:05):
You mentioned the Inventors Club.
How do our listeners find aninventors club?
Do they go online?
Christine Foley (07:13):
Yeah, that's what exactly what I did.
chris-foley_1_02-28-2025_112 (07:16):
uh uh,
Christine Foley (07:16):
inventors club and actually.
I went to my local college,which Farmingdale University
here on Long Island is anagricultural college and they
happen to have someone with thatdoes
chris-foley_1_02-28-2025_11 (07:31):
um,
Christine Foley (07:31):
who is actually doing a Invention club type of
meeting.
So I just went and there I metpatent attorneys.
I met other people that theydon't look at you like you have
three heads'cause you have anidea.
Right?
So from that,
chris-foley_1_02-28-2025_11 (07:47):
you know,
Christine Foley (07:47):
when I first went to, it was a winter night,
it was raining and I'm like,what am I doing here?
But I knew.
That I followed my gut.
I went there, I met a patentattorney and,
chris-foley_1_02-28-2025_112 (07:58):
it
Christine Foley (07:58):
was canceled that meeting.
And I did go we went to anothermeeting, spoke with more people
and just got more inspiration.
And then I joined the man whowas leading it, which is Brian
Fried.
He's a wonderful man.
He invents the NationalInventors Club, and I implore
anybody in this industry thathas an idea, they have, Once a
(08:19):
month, it's a free membership.
You could go on NIC NationalInventors Club.
And the more you ask questions.
The more you'll get youranswers.
So don't be so caught up in youridea and not be open to
suggestions
Sharon McGukin (08:36):
the product is a great 15"x by 15" x3.5" inches
so that carries a number ofarrangements potentially.
Christine Foley (08:45):
the way I got that answer was I went to a busy
florist who does, you know, 3,4, 5, 6 weddings a weekend.
And I said, Hey, what do youthink?
He said, Chris, it's a littletoo high for me.
I.
My shelves were alreadydesigned, could be a little
lower, and I said, oh, that'snot bad.
But also with my manufacturing,when I spoke to them, when you
(09:08):
to do this and
chris-foley_1_02-28-2025_11 (09:09):
the
Christine Foley (09:09):
the, the mold has to be made.
It's a bigger mold, so costeffectively for the product.
So I said, well listen, if theyneed a bigger they could stack.
And then my product developingpeople, you know, I said, well,
we are so tight on space in aflorist, they don't want more
stuff around.
(09:29):
How can I solve that problem?
And then it was just one day Isaw Legos and I said, what if
they could be stacked that's,you know, it's just innovation,
sitting with it, you know,leaving it on the coffee table,
having my co coffee in themorning looking at it to say,
(09:50):
what else could I put in thisarea?
What else could it fit?
Because I know if it doesn't dowhat it says, I'm gonna hear
about it.
Sharon McGukin (09:59):
you want to
sharon--_1_02-28-2025_1125 (10:00):
hear about
Sharon McGukin (10:01):
it if it's not
Christine Foley (10:01):
Right,
Sharon McGukin (10:02):
When you're testing in the marketplace, you
want both the good and the badsuggestions.
I.
Christine Foley (10:08):
right, right.
And that's, that was exactly it.
And when I said, Hey, this isgonna be a big investment for
me, but I want, like, goes backto my kids and following up,
following through, if I reallyam strong.
So I could say this to otherflorists out there, if you have
an idea.
Feel free to reach out to me.
I'll support you in any way Ican, but if you have an idea,
(10:32):
really optimize and sit withyourself to say, could I live
without this in my industry?
Could I get through the day orwill it make my life and
everybody else's life easier?
And The biggest thing we have inindustry, we, it's a hard
business.
We spend a lot of time and a lotof energy.
(10:53):
And if I could take a little bitof that way, then I've felt that
I've done my and, and servingthe people in the industry.
Sharon McGukin (11:01):
secret it was your idea, but basically you are
designing it for other people.
Let's think
sharon--_1_02-28-2025_112 (11:07):
about weddings for example.
Sharon McGukin (11:09):
You've done so much work to prepare for that
wedding.
Then you're loading to carry,and I know you filled your share
of delivery vans too,
sharon--_1_02-28-2025_11 (11:18):
you're carrying
Christine Foley (11:19):
it Mm-hmm.
then you want to protect thoseflowers.
Because flowers are expensiveJust like eggs, just like
everything else, right?
The flowers Lisanthus could be.
You know, when I started it was10,$11 a bunch.
Now it's up to 35, right?
So that's$3.50 cents a stem.
(11:41):
There's no room forcompromising.
Most of all.
I don't want the stress of thelogistics, especially for the
new florists that are out therethat aren't so familiar, like.
I want them to work and optimizeand measure the way they do
things when it comes to weddingand events.
Sharon McGukin (12:02):
You are having to replace bruised flowers from
their travel in the van, thatmoney that you're replacing,
those lilies, those roses,things that become broken or
bruised.
Could instead be invested in agood, stable delivery item.
sharon--_1_02-28-2025_1125 (12:19):
like the flower
Christine Foley (12:20):
Product.
Sharon McGukin (12:21):
You mentioned the patent lawyer, I assume
that's how you got throughpatenting.
How did you find yourmanufacturer?
Christine Foley (12:29):
Through the Inventors Club,
chris-foley_1_02-28-2025_11 (12:30):
you know,
Christine Foley (12:31):
I worked with a coach there that really kind of
guided me, but I'm a really aperson that, I inspect what I
expect, I just don't takesomeone's word for it.
I do my own homework.
So I found a company out in Iowathat, Made my prototypes and
they would send it back to me Iwanted to make it for the 11
(12:53):
inch dish.
So I'd like it to be customdesigned for that.
My hands are a little larger,but I like where you could put
your hand to grab the dish.
Because as a designer, whenwe're moving those dishes in the
refrigerator, in a large$300,$400 centerpiece.
We're trying to dig for the dishand were bruising and
compromising.
(13:13):
wanted the caddy to be designedthere.
So.
When I came to that, everybodywas about, oh, go overseas.
It's cheaper, it's costeffective.
But guess what?
That was during Covid, that'swhen this started.
And to get things from Malaysiaand China were quite like$15K,
(13:36):
$17K,$18,000 to get a cargo inhere.
And the biggest thing for mewhen I was on Zooms with
factories there.
Is for them to get the idea ofexactly what this product has to
be made.
It was a language barrier, so Ifelt more confident in going the
US route because I wanna beproud to say it's made in the
(13:59):
US.
Sure, it may cost more, but Iwanted to know where it is, know
how I could get it, and walkinto the factory at any time to
see it being done
sharon--_1_02-28-2025_1 (14:11):
hundred
Sharon McGukin (14:11):
percent.
Christine Foley (14:12):
And.
Sharon McGukin (14:13):
development in, Asia, and you're exactly right.
The understanding is verydifferent They do a great job,
but it's not as
sharon--_1_02-28-2025_1125 (14:22):
easy as
Sharon McGukin (14:23):
everybody
Christine Foley (14:24):
right.
Sharon McGukin (14:24):
is To do product development with a company in
Asia.
Christine Foley (14:30):
And, and plus you know, basically, well, once
it gets to the port, it's notour responsibility.
Well, you know, you say that tome and.
You're not the person I wanna dobusiness with because I can't, I
can't sleep at night knowingthat, you know, you just washed
your hands of what I justinvested in.
But that is the way.
Then I have to know the tarifflaws and then I have to know the
(14:52):
cargo laws, and that issomething that you pick and
choose.
Where you like to be.
And when I went to the, myfactory here in the United
States, they were wonderful.
I sat down with the productdevelopment and at the round
table, they still weren'tgetting it.
I said, I have to make them acenterpiece for them to really
(15:12):
get it." And that's what I did.
I made a beautiful centerpiece,came in the next day, put it on
the table for the designers tounderstand when they're
developing this product, how ithas to fit.
it's just a conversation.
And that's another thing strongabout.
Sharon life is amazing and greatand you could have anything you
(15:35):
want in life.
It all starts with aconversation.
It.
may not be, You may have aconversation and no one's on
your side, but you have tobelieve in yourself.
You have to believe in yourselfand your vision.
And your purpose to moveforward.
Don't look for yourcheerleaders.
Stay focused, stay grounded,look forward and just do your
(15:59):
homework.
And if that conversation doesn'tgo in the direction to support
your vision and your mission,you have another conversation.
And that's really what life isto me about.
Sharon McGukin (16:10):
Your network, your team, your group of
supporters, whatever you wouldlike to call them, major.
Because those are the people whowill guide you in the process,
and I think you had a littlehelp in the promotion
Christine Foley (16:27):
yes, when I, had the pleasure of doing some
of the shows to introduce myproduct shared it with Smithers.
To have them to see, to showflorists, to see what they don't
see what's available for them.
They were just very taken withit, and they said, wow, we need
a product like this for our
chris-foley_1_02-28-2025_11 (16:48):
and you could, you know,
Christine Foley (16:49):
We could compare it to what's out there
and what's not.
But there's nothing out therethat supports those dishes that
we design on a vase that we taketo the venue.
Sharon McGukin (17:00):
also I think your
chris-foley_1_02-28-2025_11 (17:01):
So,
Sharon McGukin (17:01):
helped you with a lot of your promotion.
Christine Foley (17:05):
yes, my son Michael,
chris-foley_1_02-28-2025_11 (17:07):
um,
Christine Foley (17:08):
a great inspiration.
We learn from our children.
You know, you know, wedefinitely learn, you know, he's
innovative.
He, you know, does graphic, hedoes designing, he does,
chris-foley_1_02-28-2025_11 (17:19):
um,
Christine Foley (17:19):
product development as And,
chris-foley_1_02-28-2025_11 (17:21):
um,
Christine Foley (17:22):
he's been a great source and a great
support.
You know, and he's the one tosay, Hey, what about that idea?
I have two sons, but they bothgot on me to say, you know, I'm
all about, you know, follow up,follow through, right?
And, and here I am.
So it's, it is truly a blessingto be here and having this
conversation with you
Sharon McGukin (17:43):
us.
Christine Foley (17:43):
and.
Sharon McGukin (17:44):
There were so many questions I wanted to ask
you.
Once I had the product and wasable to look at, it's
lightweight, as you said.
It's stackable, it's easy to tomanage, and I was very impressed
with it.
Then you had to learn aboutselling and shipping and all
those things as well, didn'tyou?
chris-foley_1_02-28-2025_1125 (18:05):
I sure did.
Christine Foley (18:06):
I sure did.
But again, it's just about aknow.
chris-foley_1_02-28-2025_1125 (18:10):
I bet,
Christine Foley (18:10):
I bet.
The question you want to ask meis why eight in a box?
chris-foley_1_02-28-2025 (18:16):
Right.
Christine Foley (18:16):
Like why eight in a box?
Because the average weddingtoday we book, We sit with a
bride is 15 weddingcenterpieces, right?
15.
They have to guarantee 150people.
So a minimum of 15 tables.
So the average florist would getyou, we always wanna bring in
extra right?
In case they add on a table.
(18:37):
So that's how up with, Twocases.
Would, I would say for anaverage florist to start with,
us at the store we have 60because sometimes our pieces are
grand and we use two caddies.
So it's really in the purposeof, wow, I never have to think
when I design a centerpiece,whether it's a low$200 piece or
(19:00):
$150 piece for a low centerpieceto use one caddy, or it's a
brand$400 piece,
Sharon McGukin (19:06):
two caddies?
One above the other.
Christine Foley (19:08):
Yes.
You know how you got the whenyou got them in the box.
Tell me what your experience waswhen you opened that box.
Like
Sharon McGukin (19:15):
I personally believe presentation is
everything.
So when I opened the box, youhad them nicely tied together
with a beautiful green ribbon,and I was
sharon--_1_02-28-2025_1125 (19:24):
able to pick
Sharon McGukin (19:25):
them up both at the same time.
And I surmised that if you had alarger arrangement that had
draping materials, you would.
Stack them accordingly, however,the height you needed.
Then I took them apart to seewhat it felt like individually
and then looked to see how manydifferent containers the product
(19:46):
fit and it was impressive.
Christine Foley (19:50):
Thank you.
Yeah, so you know when you saythat too, so it's not only do I
use them for centerpieces, likeyou said in the beginning, Hey,
what about.
When you flip it over.
So I wanted to give that valueto my, manufacturer to say,"Hey,
could we make this hollow thatput a, A cylinder in there?"
(20:11):
Because when it's warm out andwe have to pull our bridal
bouquets.
I put the cylinders there andthen I pull the recipe for my
bouquets and put them in thecylinders.
Then I take the whole caddy, Icolor code it and put it in the
refrigerator.
So there again, I'm optimizing.
(20:33):
I'm measuring.
No waste of time.
So when my designers come in,they go to the refrigerator,
they pull out the caddy and, oh,the Smith wedding.
Oh, let's get to it.
All the flowers are pulled.
Sharon McGukin (20:45):
I firmly believe in.
That's how I did it when I had aflower shop.
As we were processing, theperson processing, had the list
and could go ahead and divideout the flowers.
Just as you say, because thelesser number of times you touch
a flower, the more money youmake from it.
If you're constantly changingthe flower from this bucket to
(21:05):
that and you lose money in it.
Christine Foley (21:10):
Sharon, I can't believe you just said that
because think about sixdifferent ways of Flowers
transported.
Right.
It goes through from the vase tothe caddy, and if it wasn't on
the caddy, it would go into therefrigerator.
It goes on a cart, it goes inthe van, and then we have to get
to the venue.
(21:30):
How many times do you get to thevenue and they're just either
cleaning from the previouswedding?
Or the tables aren't set up, butyou're blocking and you have to
move your vehicle, so you haveto unload those centerpieces.
Now, if you didn't bring a tableto put them on, you're putting
'em on the floor that thewedding just danced on.
(21:52):
And if you know this, that whenyou go to a wedding and you're
sitting at the table, it's thebottom of that centerpiece that
your guests are looking at.
So why would you want tocompromise that?
Sharon McGukin (22:04):
Do you consider the number of weddings you have
in a year and the number oftimes you use the flower caddy
divide it out and say itactually cost about this much
per wedding?
I.
Christine Foley (22:20):
That is excellent.
Yes.
Uh, That is absolutely because Ilike most florists, we prepare,
we do product costs andevaluation, and I build it into
my bouquets.
If I'm breaking, you know,flowers and centerpieces and all
the breakage and the damage,absolutely.
I don't know if you're aware,but there's 156 wedding days in
(22:43):
a And that's just a Friday,Saturday and Sunday.
And you know, in today's worldwe're having weddings on a
Monday, a Thursday, just one aday.
So if you do the math 156, justtaking that and you use it and
you're just a florist that doeswell, I don't really do a lot of
weddings, so maybe I do 10 ayear.
(23:04):
You just break down that valuethat you don't have to worry
and, and just build it back inyour product and it saves you
from Joe, the driver going toget boxes, going to get buckets,
the stacking of them.
It saves you, Joe, the drivergoing to the van, fixing those
sloppy wet blankets that we.
(23:26):
Maneuver with, and nothing'sdripping all over.
We're looking professional.
When we walk into the venue,whether they're on a cart or
whether you're holding them,it's about your image too.
In the industry, when people aregoing in looking at a venue,
That's right.
You've given a lot of greatadvice, but if you were giving
(23:47):
advice to florists who think,know, I have this idea and I'm
not sure about it, I think itwould be a great solution to a
problem that I have.
What would be your first step?
I know you say sit with it, butwhen you're sitting with it,
what are you imagining theproduct or developing the idea,
(24:10):
or do you start with reassessingwhat the problems are to lead
you in a direction of coming upwith a solution?
When I said I sit with it, Ialready had the product I sat
with it in the sense to say, howmuch more value, what else could
I do to this square?
In Tennessee that texted me andI didn't even think of this.
(24:32):
He said,"Chris, really get outof it.
It's easy on our You know, Whenyou're picking up those
centerpieces on the dish, youknow your wrist really takes a
beating where the leverage withcaddy, is better support.
And he brought that to myattention and he's a young guy.
So that.
was pretty nice to hear that.
right, that's right.
(24:54):
So what I would say is this,work backwards.
Work with your vision.
First, sit down and write downyour vision and then implement
the steps on Like, you know,what do you, what do you see in
your vision?
Like, I saw this, so who would Ineed to speak to?
And I, and I'm gonna say this,don't get to discouraged, when
(25:16):
my staff would say to me, Chris.
You,
chris-foley_1_02-28-2025_11 (25:20):
you know, you
Christine Foley (25:20):
really gonna do this?
And I said, well, listen, if Idon't do this, tell me how we're
getting those centerpiecesthere.
You have another idea.
You have something that we'regonna get these, we have three
weddings this weekend.
We have a lot to move around.
Tell me how we're doing it.
And they just looked and I said,this is why I'm gonna go ahead
(25:42):
and go full arm with that andjust have conversations.
So I'd say sit down, write,write your vision down how you
see it, and then just break itdown.
Break little and haveconversations.
You know, go to the Inventorsclub, you know, share your
there.
and you'll get a lot of greatfeedback actually.
(26:04):
Just even go on the website,National Inventors Club.
That's where you look and getstarted, and any way I could
support you, I will just reachout to me.
I'd be happy to guide you
Sharon McGukin (26:15):
that.
One thing I always think also,whenever I'm addressing a
problem, one of my firstthoughts is someone that I know
has information or can help mewith this.
And I always try to start outthinking who would have the best
input.
So when you are discussing aproblem for the first times,
(26:37):
you're getting valuable input.
But we usually know somebodythat could help us.
Christine Foley (26:45):
And if not somebody, somebody knows
somebody.
It's,
chris-foley_1_02-28-2025_1 (26:49):
it's all
Christine Foley (26:50):
about those conversations and not being
stuck.
In just one way to do it right,because you're gonna have people
that aren't floists, that's theyeither roll their eyes or I
don't know, that's cri becauseremember, people don't see what
they don't see if they can't seethemselves doing it.
(27:10):
They're not always gonna inspireyou to do it, so you really have
to be your own advocate andbelieve what's within you and
how strong your passion is foryour vision, mission, purpose,
and
Sharon McGukin (27:23):
think you
Christine Foley (27:24):
yeah.
Sharon McGukin (27:25):
and say, what problem do I wish I had a
solution for?
a list of those items also.
And what takes the most of yourtime, the most of your energy?
Needs, the most inspiration tobe accomplished.
chris-foley_1_02-28-2025_112 (27:44):
a, you know,
Christine Foley (27:45):
This wedding season, sit down with your team.
What's working, what's not?
And how can we optimize,measure, and really look at our
efficiency and how we could workbetter as a team and bring ideas
and support each other in those
chris-foley_1_02-28-2025_1 (28:00):
That and,
Christine Foley (28:01):
And try it, even if you're not really
gung-ho on one of your leaddesigners ideas, just to empower
him, say, you know what?
Sure, let's give that a trybecause you just never know what
could.
chris-foley_1_02-28-2025_11 (28:14):
and you know,
Christine Foley (28:15):
all that morale when, when we're just
approaching wedding season,really truly makes a difference.
Sharon McGukin (28:20):
Because it's continual, it goes from one
wedding to the next.
There's not really areevaluation time unless you
make your self do it likeJanuary and June are a good time
to look at your pricing, look atwhat's working, what's not
working, and also when youreally have a challenging
(28:41):
wedding is a good time to lookat it too.
I know for myself, you had tosit down and make a time to
reevaluate everything, to checkthe accuracy of your prices for
each year.
'cause sometimes it slides inthere and you're not making the
money that you think you arebecause things have gone up and
you haven't I personally came infrom a wedding that was really
(29:03):
challenging.
It was cold, it was raining, itwas a miserable night, and I sat
down and made myself realign mypricing right then when I was
miserable before I allowedmyself a hot shower.
We want to be so gracious to thepeople that we serve that
sometimes we're a little overgracious to them.
(29:25):
So you need to set a time periodlike again, January and June are
really good to look at yourpricing, your structure, your
service, what's working, what'snot working, or do like I did do
it when you're really miserablebecause that makes you a lot
more alert to what has changedand maybe I haven't.
Christine Foley (29:47):
Perhaps you should look at after that
wedding, after that crazyweekend, have an eight o'clock
meeting on Tuesday while it'sfresh in your mind to really sit
down to say, oh, you know, wedid that wedding and the
ceremony was supposed to beoutside, and then they called it
off last minute'cause of therain.
And now we had to all do itinside.
(30:08):
Did we allocate for that?
Did we that?
You know, We had to keep fourcrew members back because we had
to do breakdown.
You know, These are alldifferent things that you have
to measure and monitor that.
In the store we have all ourweddings for May, all our
weddings for April, all ourweddings for March, even little
(30:29):
events to say, okay, how are wegoing into this next third week?
How prepared are we?
All our setups done?
Are things color coded?
What will we start on a Mondayto a Wednesday to execution on
Thursday?
And you could see, and you canimplement things as the months
(30:49):
progress in the season to seewhat's working what's not.
It's just a conversation withyour team and ask the questions.
oh, I didn't know that it wasgoing into overtime after 12
o'clock.
To one o'clock, all the cocktailhours, an hour and a half, you
know, things like that thatreally shift when you're setting
(31:12):
up for wedding and events.
Get used to using the samemechanics, like for example.
In the delivery van, the waythat we position flowers to
deliver them, or certain vasesthat we are using on a regular
basis, or just any of thematerials that we become
ingrained in using them, we needto stop and look and see are
(31:34):
there new products that workbetter?
Do I need to upgrade the look ofthis, that it's not just the
pricing that needs an upgrade,but the materials that you work
with and products you work with.
And also the way that you work awedding.
Absolutely.
You know When your team comesin, right?
(31:56):
You have four or five employeesthere, you figure you know what
you're paying them an hour timessix because there's six people
in an hour and they wantproduction, and one may be
quicker than other.
You know, you have to thinkwho's doing what job to say.
Well, who's pulling the flowers?
It's taken them so long to pullall the flowers.
If you had a system, you had to,flip the Caddy over, put your
(32:20):
cylinders in it and pull allyour blossoms, that you're not
waiting to do that on the daybefore game day to pull your
blossoms to realize inferior orto realize.
You never ordered that and nowall the tension erupts, right?
And we've all been there.
So it's really about seeing howyou could be more efficient in
(32:42):
what you're doing to save timeand money and energy with your
staff.
Does that make sense?
Sharon McGukin (32:48):
think our listeners inherently know these
things, but you don't stop tosay, I need to analyze how I'm
employing these.
Christine Foley (32:59):
right.
right.
Or what, what exactly are youdoing to make a better workflow
during wedding week?
Because you're stressed Becauseyou know, you sat with the
bride, you told them what youwere gonna do, and now you just
have to execute that and have itarrive as pristine as perhaps
(33:20):
when you made a sample of yourcenterpiece, or when you show
them blossoms and there's thingsthat you know pop up that.
You know, they didn't arriveright or on time, but it's
really in the projection of howyou create your week and set the
team up for success through eachday of the week.
And I bet if you just took yourfirst wedding season or the
(33:44):
first month of your weddingseason and said, you know what,
I'm gonna go into measure andmonitor and optimize how we're
gonna do things from Joe, thedriver, setting up the trucks to
setting up the refrigerator.
And putting the workload on theboard how we're going to do it
differently and use the toolsand do some research.
Is there anything else out thereto make me do my job better
Sharon McGukin (34:07):
I think also it's very important to do as
many of the wedding tasks in theearly parts of the week, or slow
days of a different instead ofwaiting till its prime over
time, pay.
If a lot of those jobs arealready accomplished when it
comes to the week of thewedding, or they are
accomplished in the first twodays of the wedding, then you're
(34:30):
less likely to have to payovertime when you have the whole
wedding team in place becauseyou've done a lot of the work in
advance.
Florists Go from one crisis toanother.
One holiday, one event, onewedding, but they sometimes get
a little behind in preppingahead of time.
But that's one way to save moneyis to prepare everything that
(34:53):
can be prepared in advance.
For example, when you areprocessing the flowers, you know
what's going into thecenterpieces.
We've already talked aboutwhat's going in the bouquets and
divide that out.
But you can also bucket thoseflowers together.
So you bring out the centerpiecebuckets, you, bring out the
outdoor arrangement buckets.
(35:14):
Instead of putting them all inseparate buckets and then having
to take all the buckets andcount the stems out.
Count the stems
sharon--_1_02-28-2025_112530 (35:21):
as you're processing.
Christine Foley (35:22):
that's why they give us January and that's why
us, after Valentine's Day for usto say,"Hey, we have weddings
coming up in April and May.
Did we, did we Oasis up theLomey dishes?
chris-foley_1_02-28-2025 (35:35):
Right.
Christine Foley (35:35):
So they're already done.
Yeah.
So pull, all the differentthings that we need, the
cylinders and the hard goodsthat they're already pulled and
tagged for the weddings thatwhen that week comes, we just
have to focus on processing theflowers.
And
Sharon McGukin (35:50):
of your products
chris-foley_1_02-28-2025_1 (35:51):
also
Sharon McGukin (35:51):
in advance because if you can't run to the
wholesaler and pick somethingup, perhaps they're out of it
also, then you should haveplaced that order in advance so
you know you have it in shop.
Christine Foley (36:06):
Correct.
And that is where you developyour relationships You have
those conversations so they like
chris-foley_1_02-28-2025_11 (36:13):
our
Christine Foley (36:14):
our store is not the same as
sharon--_1_02-28-2025_1125 (36:16):
Yes.
Christine Foley (36:16):
store around the corner, you know,
everybody's different level ofquality is different, but long
as you
chris-foley_1_02-28-2025_11 (36:22):
art
Christine Foley (36:23):
articulate that and really share that with who
your sales rep is, they knowwhat they have to look at and
you share with what's coming up.
It's all inspect what youexpect, You know, you have that
wedding, you know what you need.
Have those conversations onceagain.
Sharon McGukin (36:41):
to be productive, not to wait to be
rescued.
Christine Foley (36:47):
Absolutely.
You have to be your own advocateand be a stand for what you say
Sharon McGukin (36:51):
I
Christine Foley (36:52):
Yeah.
Sharon McGukin (36:52):
much for being with us.
Congratulations.
It's a great product and
sharon--_1_02-28-2025_112530 (36:57):
I wish you.
Sharon McGukin (36:58):
much
Christine Foley (36:58):
I thank you.
Sharon McGukin (36:59):
it.
And then we'll look to see whatyou come up with next.
chris-foley_1_02-28-2025_1125 (37:04):
I appreciate you and I appreciate
the Smithers team and it's beena pleasure and I'm here for any
florist out there who needs anysupport in any way I could help
them and support them.
I thank you.
I appreciate your time.
Sharon McGukin (37:16):
with Floral Hub on the oasisfloralproducts.com
website can find the you thataccompanies this podcast.
sharon--_1_02-28-2025_11 (37:26):
You'll
Sharon McGukin (37:27):
Be able to see some photographs there that
obviously we can't share here.
We appreciate you very much,Christine.
Christine Foley (37:34):
Thank you.
Sharon McGukin (37:47):
Smithers-Oasis, North America, Chris and I want
to thank you for joining ustoday.
If you've enjoyed this episode,please share it with a friend
and be sure to hit subscribe.
You don't want to miss theinspired solutions our upcoming
guests will share with you foryour personal or business
growth.
next time, I'm Sharon McGukinreminding you that like the
(38:10):
unfurling petals of a flower, wegrow by changing form,
inspiration in like raindrops,absorbing energy from others,
like warmth from the sun.
growth opens us up to new ideasand that's How we
Bloom...........
life is amazing and great and you could have
anything you want in life.
It all starts with aconversation.
Sharon McGukin (00:59):
Every florist knows the struggle, designing
the perfect arrangement, andthen stressing over how it can
survive delivery.
Wobbly vases, shiftingcenterpieces and last minute
disasters can turn a beautifulcreation into a logistical
nightmare.
What if there was a better way?
(01:20):
We all face challenges in ourdaily work, but inventive floral
designers create their ownsolutions.
Christine Foley, founder ofCaddy Up Solutions, often felt
frustrated that despite endlesshours of pre-planning and
production delivery could feellike a last minute scramble.
(01:40):
knew there had to be a betterway to get flowers from vase to
venue while managing In FullBloom, a Long Island florist,
Chris applied her design skillsto solving delivery Having spent
over 40 years in the floralindustry, she's always done
whatever it takes to make thingshappen.
(02:01):
Like selling her car to open herfirst flower shop.
Through decades of experienceand an entrepreneurial mindset,
Chris realized that one of thebiggest challenges in floristry
isn't just creating flowers,it's delivering them.
Determined to find a floraldelivery solution for flower
(02:22):
transportation.
Chris invented the flower caddy,a game changing echo friendly,
lightweight, and durable productdesigned to transport flower
arrangements safely andstress-free.
A solution created by a florist,for a florist.
(02:42):
Chris joins us to share how shetransformed a common floral
frustration.
Into an innovative solution andto encourage each of you to
identify problems and createsolutions with your own game
changing ideas.
Christine Foley (03:02):
Thank you.
Thank you, Sharon.
I appreciate that.
That's a beautifulacknowledgement thank you for
that
Sharon McGukin (03:09):
that bringing a product to market is a lot like
I felt about when I brought abook to life by self-publishing.
It's sort of like giving birthto a baby.
It's a lot of planning,
sharon--_1_02-28-2025_112530 (03:22):
a lot
Sharon McGukin (03:22):
of work, and a lot of nurturing that goes on, I
would suppose.
Christine Foley (03:28):
absolutely.
And you know, to do all that,keeping your eye on the vision
and the purpose.
And that's exactly.
You know, You hit hiccups alongthe way, but you know what it's
going to do to help others, andthat's, you know, purpose.
Sharon McGukin (03:44):
brings that passion for the product, knowing
that this is something that'sreally needed.
And florist are very inventive.
Trained to look for solutions.
chris-foley_1_02-28-2025_ (03:54):
Yeah, yeah, yeah,
Christine Foley (03:55):
Agreed.
Sharon McGukin (03:55):
sitting with one of the flower caddies, and what
I is it fits a lot of differentsizes of containers, like six
inch, nine inch, and 11 inchLomey dishes, along with
sharon--_1_02-28-2025_112530 (04:08):
a variety
Christine Foley (04:09):
Yep.
Sharon McGukin (04:12):
Tell me what made you choose to create
something.
You can do it from one side andit has the, the Lomeys or
another round container, andthen flip it over and you can do
the cylinders.
What brought you to this?
I.
Christine Foley (04:30):
That's a great,
chris-foley_1_02-28-2025_11 (04:30):
um,
Christine Foley (04:31):
question.
And I have to say, the
chris-foley_1_02-28-2025_11 (04:34):
you know,
Christine Foley (04:34):
when I started, you know, after having my flower
shops,
chris-foley_1_02-28-2025_11 (04:38):
you know,
Christine Foley (04:38):
I was raising my kids I went through some life
changes, went through a divorce.
And this woman asked me to comeand help her develop her store
for the wedding and eventbusiness close to home.
I could be there for my kids.
And, as we were that, What Ifound every time I put flowers
in the refrigerator, I would bepopping off, at that time, Polo
Roses, which were like the newPlaya Bianca, that it is today.
(05:02):
They would just.
Pop off because we would put'emin the refrigerator and moving
the flowers, you know, you neverhave the right space.
You think the space is bigenough, but then you say, oh, I
forgot we have to do the escortpiece.
So we have to always jostle andmove product.
So I always felt we were losingso much dollars with the heads
(05:27):
being damaged and bruised.
chris-foley_1_02-28-2025_11 (05:29):
um,
Christine Foley (05:30):
I just quick grabbed a piece of styrofoam at
the time and put it on there andthat worked.
But then our pieces got granderthen,
chris-foley_1_02-28-2025_11 (05:39):
you know,
Christine Foley (05:39):
I doubled up the styrofoam and then I used.
Wooden picks and then the picksbroke.
So what am I to do?
So just being innovative andeverybody thought it was a great
idea.
You should do oh wow.
You didn't know how much workand time and effort was it
really came back.
(06:00):
I'm be,
chris-foley_1_02-28-2025_11 (06:00):
um,
Christine Foley (06:01):
really transparent here, is that.
I'm a person that say what youdo, do what you say and follow
through with it.
And my boys said to me, mom,what happened to that idea you
had?
I thought you were gonna dosomething with it.
And I said to myself, well, Idon't really know how.
So what do we do when we don'treally know how to do something?
(06:24):
You become an advocate and doyour own research.
So I joined an Inventors club.
And I shared the idea withlike-minded people, and from
that it just pivoted and I justgot more questions and things
answered for me and brought itback to my team.
And through that we wanted tocome up because I know florist
(06:47):
is stingy.
We always wanna give, I wantedto give florist when they're
chris-foley_1_02-28-2025_11 (06:53):
um,
Christine Foley (06:54):
the value.
So how can I make this productso great and how can we look at
it and critique it in many ways?
So it
chris-foley_1_02-28-2025_11 (07:03):
um,
Christine Foley (07:04):
gives them the value and
Sharon McGukin (07:05):
You mentioned the Inventors Club.
How do our listeners find aninventors club?
Do they go online?
Christine Foley (07:13):
Yeah, that's what exactly what I did.
chris-foley_1_02-28-2025_112 (07:16):
uh uh,
Christine Foley (07:16):
inventors club and actually.
I went to my local college,which Farmingdale University
here on Long Island is anagricultural college and they
happen to have someone with thatdoes
chris-foley_1_02-28-2025_11 (07:31):
um,
Christine Foley (07:31):
who is actually doing a Invention club type of
meeting.
So I just went and there I metpatent attorneys.
I met other people that theydon't look at you like you have
three heads'cause you have anidea.
Right?
So from that,
chris-foley_1_02-28-2025_11 (07:47):
you know,
Christine Foley (07:47):
when I first went to, it was a winter night,
it was raining and I'm like,what am I doing here?
But I knew.
That I followed my gut.
I went there, I met a patentattorney and,
chris-foley_1_02-28-2025_112 (07:58):
it
Christine Foley (07:58):
was canceled that meeting.
And I did go we went to anothermeeting, spoke with more people
and just got more inspiration.
And then I joined the man whowas leading it, which is Brian
Fried.
He's a wonderful man.
He invents the NationalInventors Club, and I implore
anybody in this industry thathas an idea, they have, Once a
(08:19):
month, it's a free membership.
You could go on NIC NationalInventors Club.
And the more you ask questions.
The more you'll get youranswers.
So don't be so caught up in youridea and not be open to
suggestions
Sharon McGukin (08:36):
the product is a great 15"x by 15" x3.5" inches
so that carries a number ofarrangements potentially.
Christine Foley (08:45):
the way I got that answer was I went to a busy
florist who does, you know, 3,4, 5, 6 weddings a weekend.
And I said, Hey, what do youthink?
He said, Chris, it's a littletoo high for me.
I.
My shelves were alreadydesigned, could be a little
lower, and I said, oh, that'snot bad.
But also with my manufacturing,when I spoke to them, when you
(09:08):
to do this and
chris-foley_1_02-28-2025_11 (09:09):
the
Christine Foley (09:09):
the, the mold has to be made.
It's a bigger mold, so costeffectively for the product.
So I said, well listen, if theyneed a bigger they could stack.
And then my product developingpeople, you know, I said, well,
we are so tight on space in aflorist, they don't want more
stuff around.
(09:29):
How can I solve that problem?
And then it was just one day Isaw Legos and I said, what if
they could be stacked that's,you know, it's just innovation,
sitting with it, you know,leaving it on the coffee table,
having my co coffee in themorning looking at it to say,
(09:50):
what else could I put in thisarea?
What else could it fit?
Because I know if it doesn't dowhat it says, I'm gonna hear
about it.
Sharon McGukin (09:59):
you want to
sharon--_1_02-28-2025_1125 (10:00):
hear about
Sharon McGukin (10:01):
it if it's not
Christine Foley (10:01):
Right,
Sharon McGukin (10:02):
When you're testing in the marketplace, you
want both the good and the badsuggestions.
I.
Christine Foley (10:08):
right, right.
And that's, that was exactly it.
And when I said, Hey, this isgonna be a big investment for
me, but I want, like, goes backto my kids and following up,
following through, if I reallyam strong.
So I could say this to otherflorists out there, if you have
an idea.
Feel free to reach out to me.
I'll support you in any way Ican, but if you have an idea,
(10:32):
really optimize and sit withyourself to say, could I live
without this in my industry?
Could I get through the day orwill it make my life and
everybody else's life easier?
And The biggest thing we have inindustry, we, it's a hard
business.
We spend a lot of time and a lotof energy.
(10:53):
And if I could take a little bitof that way, then I've felt that
I've done my and, and servingthe people in the industry.
Sharon McGukin (11:01):
secret it was your idea, but basically you are
designing it for other people.
Let's think
sharon--_1_02-28-2025_112 (11:07):
about weddings for example.
Sharon McGukin (11:09):
You've done so much work to prepare for that
wedding.
Then you're loading to carry,and I know you filled your share
of delivery vans too,
sharon--_1_02-28-2025_11 (11:18):
you're carrying
Christine Foley (11:19):
it Mm-hmm.
then you want to protect thoseflowers.
Because flowers are expensiveJust like eggs, just like
everything else, right?
The flowers Lisanthus could be.
You know, when I started it was10,$11 a bunch.
Now it's up to 35, right?
So that's$3.50 cents a stem.
(11:41):
There's no room forcompromising.
Most of all.
I don't want the stress of thelogistics, especially for the
new florists that are out therethat aren't so familiar, like.
I want them to work and optimizeand measure the way they do
things when it comes to weddingand events.
Sharon McGukin (12:02):
You are having to replace bruised flowers from
their travel in the van, thatmoney that you're replacing,
those lilies, those roses,things that become broken or
bruised.
Could instead be invested in agood, stable delivery item.
sharon--_1_02-28-2025_1125 (12:19):
like the flower
Christine Foley (12:20):
Product.
Sharon McGukin (12:21):
You mentioned the patent lawyer, I assume
that's how you got throughpatenting.
How did you find yourmanufacturer?
Christine Foley (12:29):
Through the Inventors Club,
chris-foley_1_02-28-2025_11 (12:30):
you know,
Christine Foley (12:31):
I worked with a coach there that really kind of
guided me, but I'm a really aperson that, I inspect what I
expect, I just don't takesomeone's word for it.
I do my own homework.
So I found a company out in Iowathat, Made my prototypes and
they would send it back to me Iwanted to make it for the 11
(12:53):
inch dish.
So I'd like it to be customdesigned for that.
My hands are a little larger,but I like where you could put
your hand to grab the dish.
Because as a designer, whenwe're moving those dishes in the
refrigerator, in a large$300,$400 centerpiece.
We're trying to dig for the dishand were bruising and
compromising.
(13:13):
wanted the caddy to be designedthere.
So.
When I came to that, everybodywas about, oh, go overseas.
It's cheaper, it's costeffective.
But guess what?
That was during Covid, that'swhen this started.
And to get things from Malaysiaand China were quite like$15K,
(13:36):
$17K,$18,000 to get a cargo inhere.
And the biggest thing for mewhen I was on Zooms with
factories there.
Is for them to get the idea ofexactly what this product has to
be made.
It was a language barrier, so Ifelt more confident in going the
US route because I wanna beproud to say it's made in the
(13:59):
US.
Sure, it may cost more, but Iwanted to know where it is, know
how I could get it, and walkinto the factory at any time to
see it being done
sharon--_1_02-28-2025_1 (14:11):
hundred
Sharon McGukin (14:11):
percent.
Christine Foley (14:12):
And.
Sharon McGukin (14:13):
development in, Asia, and you're exactly right.
The understanding is verydifferent They do a great job,
but it's not as
sharon--_1_02-28-2025_1125 (14:22):
easy as
Sharon McGukin (14:23):
everybody
Christine Foley (14:24):
right.
Sharon McGukin (14:24):
is To do product development with a company in
Asia.
Christine Foley (14:30):
And, and plus you know, basically, well, once
it gets to the port, it's notour responsibility.
Well, you know, you say that tome and.
You're not the person I wanna dobusiness with because I can't, I
can't sleep at night knowingthat, you know, you just washed
your hands of what I justinvested in.
But that is the way.
Then I have to know the tarifflaws and then I have to know the
(14:52):
cargo laws, and that issomething that you pick and
choose.
Where you like to be.
And when I went to the, myfactory here in the United
States, they were wonderful.
I sat down with the productdevelopment and at the round
table, they still weren'tgetting it.
I said, I have to make them acenterpiece for them to really
(15:12):
get it." And that's what I did.
I made a beautiful centerpiece,came in the next day, put it on
the table for the designers tounderstand when they're
developing this product, how ithas to fit.
it's just a conversation.
And that's another thing strongabout.
Sharon life is amazing and greatand you could have anything you
(15:35):
want in life.
It all starts with aconversation.
It.
may not be, You may have aconversation and no one's on
your side, but you have tobelieve in yourself.
You have to believe in yourselfand your vision.
And your purpose to moveforward.
Don't look for yourcheerleaders.
Stay focused, stay grounded,look forward and just do your
(15:59):
homework.
And if that conversation doesn'tgo in the direction to support
your vision and your mission,you have another conversation.
And that's really what life isto me about.
Sharon McGukin (16:10):
Your network, your team, your group of
supporters, whatever you wouldlike to call them, major.
Because those are the people whowill guide you in the process,
and I think you had a littlehelp in the promotion
Christine Foley (16:27):
yes, when I, had the pleasure of doing some
of the shows to introduce myproduct shared it with Smithers.
To have them to see, to showflorists, to see what they don't
see what's available for them.
They were just very taken withit, and they said, wow, we need
a product like this for our
chris-foley_1_02-28-2025_11 (16:48):
and you could, you know,
Christine Foley (16:49):
We could compare it to what's out there
and what's not.
But there's nothing out therethat supports those dishes that
we design on a vase that we taketo the venue.
Sharon McGukin (17:00):
also I think your
chris-foley_1_02-28-2025_11 (17:01):
So,
Sharon McGukin (17:01):
helped you with a lot of your promotion.
Christine Foley (17:05):
yes, my son Michael,
chris-foley_1_02-28-2025_11 (17:07):
um,
Christine Foley (17:08):
a great inspiration.
We learn from our children.
You know, you know, wedefinitely learn, you know, he's
innovative.
He, you know, does graphic, hedoes designing, he does,
chris-foley_1_02-28-2025_11 (17:19):
um,
Christine Foley (17:19):
product development as And,
chris-foley_1_02-28-2025_11 (17:21):
um,
Christine Foley (17:22):
he's been a great source and a great
support.
You know, and he's the one tosay, Hey, what about that idea?
I have two sons, but they bothgot on me to say, you know, I'm
all about, you know, follow up,follow through, right?
And, and here I am.
So it's, it is truly a blessingto be here and having this
conversation with you
Sharon McGukin (17:43):
us.
Christine Foley (17:43):
and.
Sharon McGukin (17:44):
There were so many questions I wanted to ask
you.
Once I had the product and wasable to look at, it's
lightweight, as you said.
It's stackable, it's easy to tomanage, and I was very impressed
with it.
Then you had to learn aboutselling and shipping and all
those things as well, didn'tyou?
chris-foley_1_02-28-2025_1125 (18:05):
I sure did.
Christine Foley (18:06):
I sure did.
But again, it's just about aknow.
chris-foley_1_02-28-2025_1125 (18:10):
I bet,
Christine Foley (18:10):
I bet.
The question you want to ask meis why eight in a box?
chris-foley_1_02-28-2025 (18:16):
Right.
Christine Foley (18:16):
Like why eight in a box?
Because the average weddingtoday we book, We sit with a
bride is 15 weddingcenterpieces, right?
15.
They have to guarantee 150people.
So a minimum of 15 tables.
So the average florist would getyou, we always wanna bring in
extra right?
In case they add on a table.
(18:37):
So that's how up with, Twocases.
Would, I would say for anaverage florist to start with,
us at the store we have 60because sometimes our pieces are
grand and we use two caddies.
So it's really in the purposeof, wow, I never have to think
when I design a centerpiece,whether it's a low$200 piece or
(19:00):
$150 piece for a low centerpieceto use one caddy, or it's a
brand$400 piece,
Sharon McGukin (19:06):
two caddies?
One above the other.
Christine Foley (19:08):
Yes.
You know how you got the whenyou got them in the box.
Tell me what your experience waswhen you opened that box.
Like
Sharon McGukin (19:15):
I personally believe presentation is
everything.
So when I opened the box, youhad them nicely tied together
with a beautiful green ribbon,and I was
sharon--_1_02-28-2025_1125 (19:24):
able to pick
Sharon McGukin (19:25):
them up both at the same time.
And I surmised that if you had alarger arrangement that had
draping materials, you would.
Stack them accordingly, however,the height you needed.
Then I took them apart to seewhat it felt like individually
and then looked to see how manydifferent containers the product
(19:46):
fit and it was impressive.
Christine Foley (19:50):
Thank you.
Yeah, so you know when you saythat too, so it's not only do I
use them for centerpieces, likeyou said in the beginning, Hey,
what about.
When you flip it over.
So I wanted to give that valueto my, manufacturer to say,"Hey,
could we make this hollow thatput a, A cylinder in there?"
(20:11):
Because when it's warm out andwe have to pull our bridal
bouquets.
I put the cylinders there andthen I pull the recipe for my
bouquets and put them in thecylinders.
Then I take the whole caddy, Icolor code it and put it in the
refrigerator.
So there again, I'm optimizing.
(20:33):
I'm measuring.
No waste of time.
So when my designers come in,they go to the refrigerator,
they pull out the caddy and, oh,the Smith wedding.
Oh, let's get to it.
All the flowers are pulled.
Sharon McGukin (20:45):
I firmly believe in.
That's how I did it when I had aflower shop.
As we were processing, theperson processing, had the list
and could go ahead and divideout the flowers.
Just as you say, because thelesser number of times you touch
a flower, the more money youmake from it.
If you're constantly changingthe flower from this bucket to
(21:05):
that and you lose money in it.
Christine Foley (21:10):
Sharon, I can't believe you just said that
because think about sixdifferent ways of Flowers
transported.
Right.
It goes through from the vase tothe caddy, and if it wasn't on
the caddy, it would go into therefrigerator.
It goes on a cart, it goes inthe van, and then we have to get
to the venue.
(21:30):
How many times do you get to thevenue and they're just either
cleaning from the previouswedding?
Or the tables aren't set up, butyou're blocking and you have to
move your vehicle, so you haveto unload those centerpieces.
Now, if you didn't bring a tableto put them on, you're putting
'em on the floor that thewedding just danced on.
(21:52):
And if you know this, that whenyou go to a wedding and you're
sitting at the table, it's thebottom of that centerpiece that
your guests are looking at.
So why would you want tocompromise that?
Sharon McGukin (22:04):
Do you consider the number of weddings you have
in a year and the number oftimes you use the flower caddy
divide it out and say itactually cost about this much
per wedding?
I.
Christine Foley (22:20):
That is excellent.
Yes.
Uh, That is absolutely because Ilike most florists, we prepare,
we do product costs andevaluation, and I build it into
my bouquets.
If I'm breaking, you know,flowers and centerpieces and all
the breakage and the damage,absolutely.
I don't know if you're aware,but there's 156 wedding days in
(22:43):
a And that's just a Friday,Saturday and Sunday.
And you know, in today's worldwe're having weddings on a
Monday, a Thursday, just one aday.
So if you do the math 156, justtaking that and you use it and
you're just a florist that doeswell, I don't really do a lot of
weddings, so maybe I do 10 ayear.
(23:04):
You just break down that valuethat you don't have to worry
and, and just build it back inyour product and it saves you
from Joe, the driver going toget boxes, going to get buckets,
the stacking of them.
It saves you, Joe, the drivergoing to the van, fixing those
sloppy wet blankets that we.
(23:26):
Maneuver with, and nothing'sdripping all over.
We're looking professional.
When we walk into the venue,whether they're on a cart or
whether you're holding them,it's about your image too.
In the industry, when people aregoing in looking at a venue,
That's right.
You've given a lot of greatadvice, but if you were giving
(23:47):
advice to florists who think,know, I have this idea and I'm
not sure about it, I think itwould be a great solution to a
problem that I have.
What would be your first step?
I know you say sit with it, butwhen you're sitting with it,
what are you imagining theproduct or developing the idea,
(24:10):
or do you start with reassessingwhat the problems are to lead
you in a direction of coming upwith a solution?
When I said I sit with it, Ialready had the product I sat
with it in the sense to say, howmuch more value, what else could
I do to this square?
In Tennessee that texted me andI didn't even think of this.
(24:32):
He said,"Chris, really get outof it.
It's easy on our You know, Whenyou're picking up those
centerpieces on the dish, youknow your wrist really takes a
beating where the leverage withcaddy, is better support.
And he brought that to myattention and he's a young guy.
So that.
was pretty nice to hear that.
right, that's right.
(24:54):
So what I would say is this,work backwards.
Work with your vision.
First, sit down and write downyour vision and then implement
the steps on Like, you know,what do you, what do you see in
your vision?
Like, I saw this, so who would Ineed to speak to?
And I, and I'm gonna say this,don't get to discouraged, when
(25:16):
my staff would say to me, Chris.
You,
chris-foley_1_02-28-2025_11 (25:20):
you know, you
Christine Foley (25:20):
really gonna do this?
And I said, well, listen, if Idon't do this, tell me how we're
getting those centerpiecesthere.
You have another idea.
You have something that we'regonna get these, we have three
weddings this weekend.
We have a lot to move around.
Tell me how we're doing it.
And they just looked and I said,this is why I'm gonna go ahead
(25:42):
and go full arm with that andjust have conversations.
So I'd say sit down, write,write your vision down how you
see it, and then just break itdown.
Break little and haveconversations.
You know, go to the Inventorsclub, you know, share your
there.
and you'll get a lot of greatfeedback actually.
(26:04):
Just even go on the website,National Inventors Club.
That's where you look and getstarted, and any way I could
support you, I will just reachout to me.
I'd be happy to guide you
Sharon McGukin (26:15):
that.
One thing I always think also,whenever I'm addressing a
problem, one of my firstthoughts is someone that I know
has information or can help mewith this.
And I always try to start outthinking who would have the best
input.
So when you are discussing aproblem for the first times,
(26:37):
you're getting valuable input.
But we usually know somebodythat could help us.
Christine Foley (26:45):
And if not somebody, somebody knows
somebody.
It's,
chris-foley_1_02-28-2025_1 (26:49):
it's all
Christine Foley (26:50):
about those conversations and not being
stuck.
In just one way to do it right,because you're gonna have people
that aren't floists, that's theyeither roll their eyes or I
don't know, that's cri becauseremember, people don't see what
they don't see if they can't seethemselves doing it.
(27:10):
They're not always gonna inspireyou to do it, so you really have
to be your own advocate andbelieve what's within you and
how strong your passion is foryour vision, mission, purpose,
and
Sharon McGukin (27:23):
think you
Christine Foley (27:24):
yeah.
Sharon McGukin (27:25):
and say, what problem do I wish I had a
solution for?
a list of those items also.
And what takes the most of yourtime, the most of your energy?
Needs, the most inspiration tobe accomplished.
chris-foley_1_02-28-2025_112 (27:44):
a, you know,
Christine Foley (27:45):
This wedding season, sit down with your team.
What's working, what's not?
And how can we optimize,measure, and really look at our
efficiency and how we could workbetter as a team and bring ideas
and support each other in those
chris-foley_1_02-28-2025_1 (28:00):
That and,
Christine Foley (28:01):
And try it, even if you're not really
gung-ho on one of your leaddesigners ideas, just to empower
him, say, you know what?
Sure, let's give that a trybecause you just never know what
could.
chris-foley_1_02-28-2025_11 (28:14):
and you know,
Christine Foley (28:15):
all that morale when, when we're just
approaching wedding season,really truly makes a difference.
Sharon McGukin (28:20):
Because it's continual, it goes from one
wedding to the next.
There's not really areevaluation time unless you
make your self do it likeJanuary and June are a good time
to look at your pricing, look atwhat's working, what's not
working, and also when youreally have a challenging
(28:41):
wedding is a good time to lookat it too.
I know for myself, you had tosit down and make a time to
reevaluate everything, to checkthe accuracy of your prices for
each year.
'cause sometimes it slides inthere and you're not making the
money that you think you arebecause things have gone up and
you haven't I personally came infrom a wedding that was really
(29:03):
challenging.
It was cold, it was raining, itwas a miserable night, and I sat
down and made myself realign mypricing right then when I was
miserable before I allowedmyself a hot shower.
We want to be so gracious to thepeople that we serve that
sometimes we're a little overgracious to them.
(29:25):
So you need to set a time periodlike again, January and June are
really good to look at yourpricing, your structure, your
service, what's working, what'snot working, or do like I did do
it when you're really miserablebecause that makes you a lot
more alert to what has changedand maybe I haven't.
Christine Foley (29:47):
Perhaps you should look at after that
wedding, after that crazyweekend, have an eight o'clock
meeting on Tuesday while it'sfresh in your mind to really sit
down to say, oh, you know, wedid that wedding and the
ceremony was supposed to beoutside, and then they called it
off last minute'cause of therain.
And now we had to all do itinside.
(30:08):
Did we allocate for that?
Did we that?
You know, We had to keep fourcrew members back because we had
to do breakdown.
You know, These are alldifferent things that you have
to measure and monitor that.
In the store we have all ourweddings for May, all our
weddings for April, all ourweddings for March, even little
(30:29):
events to say, okay, how are wegoing into this next third week?
How prepared are we?
All our setups done?
Are things color coded?
What will we start on a Mondayto a Wednesday to execution on
Thursday?
And you could see, and you canimplement things as the months
(30:49):
progress in the season to seewhat's working what's not.
It's just a conversation withyour team and ask the questions.
oh, I didn't know that it wasgoing into overtime after 12
o'clock.
To one o'clock, all the cocktailhours, an hour and a half, you
know, things like that thatreally shift when you're setting
(31:12):
up for wedding and events.
Get used to using the samemechanics, like for example.
In the delivery van, the waythat we position flowers to
deliver them, or certain vasesthat we are using on a regular
basis, or just any of thematerials that we become
ingrained in using them, we needto stop and look and see are
(31:34):
there new products that workbetter?
Do I need to upgrade the look ofthis, that it's not just the
pricing that needs an upgrade,but the materials that you work
with and products you work with.
And also the way that you work awedding.
Absolutely.
You know When your team comesin, right?
(31:56):
You have four or five employeesthere, you figure you know what
you're paying them an hour timessix because there's six people
in an hour and they wantproduction, and one may be
quicker than other.
You know, you have to thinkwho's doing what job to say.
Well, who's pulling the flowers?
It's taken them so long to pullall the flowers.
If you had a system, you had to,flip the Caddy over, put your
(32:20):
cylinders in it and pull allyour blossoms, that you're not
waiting to do that on the daybefore game day to pull your
blossoms to realize inferior orto realize.
You never ordered that and nowall the tension erupts, right?
And we've all been there.
So it's really about seeing howyou could be more efficient in
(32:42):
what you're doing to save timeand money and energy with your
staff.
Does that make sense?
Sharon McGukin (32:48):
think our listeners inherently know these
things, but you don't stop tosay, I need to analyze how I'm
employing these.
Christine Foley (32:59):
right.
right.
Or what, what exactly are youdoing to make a better workflow
during wedding week?
Because you're stressed Becauseyou know, you sat with the
bride, you told them what youwere gonna do, and now you just
have to execute that and have itarrive as pristine as perhaps
(33:20):
when you made a sample of yourcenterpiece, or when you show
them blossoms and there's thingsthat you know pop up that.
You know, they didn't arriveright or on time, but it's
really in the projection of howyou create your week and set the
team up for success through eachday of the week.
And I bet if you just took yourfirst wedding season or the
(33:44):
first month of your weddingseason and said, you know what,
I'm gonna go into measure andmonitor and optimize how we're
gonna do things from Joe, thedriver, setting up the trucks to
setting up the refrigerator.
And putting the workload on theboard how we're going to do it
differently and use the toolsand do some research.
Is there anything else out thereto make me do my job better
Sharon McGukin (34:07):
I think also it's very important to do as
many of the wedding tasks in theearly parts of the week, or slow
days of a different instead ofwaiting till its prime over
time, pay.
If a lot of those jobs arealready accomplished when it
comes to the week of thewedding, or they are
accomplished in the first twodays of the wedding, then you're
(34:30):
less likely to have to payovertime when you have the whole
wedding team in place becauseyou've done a lot of the work in
advance.
Florists Go from one crisis toanother.
One holiday, one event, onewedding, but they sometimes get
a little behind in preppingahead of time.
But that's one way to save moneyis to prepare everything that
(34:53):
can be prepared in advance.
For example, when you areprocessing the flowers, you know
what's going into thecenterpieces.
We've already talked aboutwhat's going in the bouquets and
divide that out.
But you can also bucket thoseflowers together.
So you bring out the centerpiecebuckets, you, bring out the
outdoor arrangement buckets.
(35:14):
Instead of putting them all inseparate buckets and then having
to take all the buckets andcount the stems out.
Count the stems
sharon--_1_02-28-2025_112530 (35:21):
as you're processing.
Christine Foley (35:22):
that's why they give us January and that's why
us, after Valentine's Day for usto say,"Hey, we have weddings
coming up in April and May.
Did we, did we Oasis up theLomey dishes?
chris-foley_1_02-28-2025 (35:35):
Right.
Christine Foley (35:35):
So they're already done.
Yeah.
So pull, all the differentthings that we need, the
cylinders and the hard goodsthat they're already pulled and
tagged for the weddings thatwhen that week comes, we just
have to focus on processing theflowers.
And
Sharon McGukin (35:50):
of your products
chris-foley_1_02-28-2025_1 (35:51):
also
Sharon McGukin (35:51):
in advance because if you can't run to the
wholesaler and pick somethingup, perhaps they're out of it
also, then you should haveplaced that order in advance so
you know you have it in shop.
Christine Foley (36:06):
Correct.
And that is where you developyour relationships You have
those conversations so they like
chris-foley_1_02-28-2025_11 (36:13):
our
Christine Foley (36:14):
our store is not the same as
sharon--_1_02-28-2025_1125 (36:16):
Yes.
Christine Foley (36:16):
store around the corner, you know,
everybody's different level ofquality is different, but long
as you
chris-foley_1_02-28-2025_11 (36:22):
art
Christine Foley (36:23):
articulate that and really share that with who
your sales rep is, they knowwhat they have to look at and
you share with what's coming up.
It's all inspect what youexpect, You know, you have that
wedding, you know what you need.
Have those conversations onceagain.
Sharon McGukin (36:41):
to be productive, not to wait to be
rescued.
Christine Foley (36:47):
Absolutely.
You have to be your own advocateand be a stand for what you say
Sharon McGukin (36:51):
I
Christine Foley (36:52):
Yeah.
Sharon McGukin (36:52):
much for being with us.
Congratulations.
It's a great product and
sharon--_1_02-28-2025_112530 (36:57):
I wish you.
Sharon McGukin (36:58):
much
Christine Foley (36:58):
I thank you.
Sharon McGukin (36:59):
it.
And then we'll look to see whatyou come up with next.
chris-foley_1_02-28-2025_1125 (37:04):
I appreciate you and I appreciate
the Smithers team and it's beena pleasure and I'm here for any
florist out there who needs anysupport in any way I could help
them and support them.
I thank you.
I appreciate your time.
Sharon McGukin (37:16):
with Floral Hub on the oasisfloralproducts.com
website can find the you thataccompanies this podcast.
sharon--_1_02-28-2025_11 (37:26):
You'll
Sharon McGukin (37:27):
Be able to see some photographs there that
obviously we can't share here.
We appreciate you very much,Christine.
Christine Foley (37:34):
Thank you.
Sharon McGukin (37:47):
Smithers-Oasis, North America, Chris and I want
to thank you for joining ustoday.
If you've enjoyed this episode,please share it with a friend
and be sure to hit subscribe.
You don't want to miss theinspired solutions our upcoming
guests will share with you foryour personal or business
growth.
next time, I'm Sharon McGukinreminding you that like the
(38:10):
unfurling petals of a flower, wegrow by changing form,
inspiration in like raindrops,absorbing energy from others,
like warmth from the sun.
growth opens us up to new ideasand that's How we
Bloom...........
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