How we prepare your daily flowers

When was the Spinneys flower factory established and how big is the facility?

The flower factory was set up in September 2020 alongside our central bakery and deli facility at Dubai Investment Park in Jebel Ali. It’s spread across 2,000 square feet and includes two production floors as well as two chillers. We have 16 colleagues who work there. They begin preparing the flowers at 5am before they’re distributed to all Spinneys stores in the UAE.

What do you mean by ‘preparing’?

It involves bunching the flowers, cutting stems, adding flower food to increase shelf life and creating the beautiful bouquets you see in stores.

There are always a variety of flowers in store. Where do you source them from?

Our flowers are sourced from AAA Roses, which is part of the larger AAA Growers in Kenya, and SQ Flora in The Netherlands. Certain varieties such as the 40-cm rose and protea are brought in from Ethiopia and South Africa respectively. We receive shipments twice a week.

Flowers are popular in every culture around the world. Are there certain trends that influence your sourcing plans?

Pale flowers tend to be more popular in Europe but as the UAE is home to many different nationalities, we can’t only focus on the trends from one market. Vibrant shades do well here. Our Emirati customers are also important to us, so we’re bringing in new premium bouquets to cater to local preferences.

Apart from bouquets, loose flowers, and potted plants, are there any offers customers should look out for?

On weekends we have a ‘special selection’ range that arrives in stores on Thursday. They’re wrapped in craft paper, which is quite distinct and more environmentally friendly as compared to plastic sleeves. Our ‘flower of the week’ offer features a flower that is in season and customers can buy it at a reduced price. Dried flowers are also a trending item around the world. Currently, we have five such items and we will keep changing them depending on the season and availability.

Tell us about your future plans for the flower factory.

Our flower division has witnessed a lot of growth and success over the last 12 months. This year we’d like to focus on larger indoor plant varieties. We’ve added a new range of plants in 10 stores and there’s been a very positive response to those items. At present we offer bonsai trees, ficus, germania, mother-in-law’s tongue, dieffenbachia and a few special green plants in value-added ceramic pots. We also plan to introduce bedding plants.

What is a bedding plant?

It’s a type of short outdoor plant that blooms for a relatively long period of time. Bedding plants include petunias, snapdragons and begonias. They’re very popular in landscaped gardens for their bright flowers that are tightly packed together.

Is there a particular flower that is more popular than the others?

Roses and lilies are always popular. There are roses of varying sizes and colours in store. Our rainbow lily bouquet is a striking mix of seven different-coloured lilies that gets sold out very quickly. The protea is another variety that draws a lot of attention due to its distinct shape and appearance. It also has a long shelf life of approximately two weeks.

Do you look at certain guidelines when choosing growers to work with?

Yes, we do. AAA Roses in Kenya is a really good example of a grower that follows strict practices when it comes to caring for the communities that its workers live in (giving them access to educational and sports facilities). The company also has strategies in place to reduce its negative impact on the environment.

Where do you source tulips from?

We source most of our stock from The Netherlands, but we do get a few special tulips from France known as double tulips.

What steps did you take to grow this category?

It was a combination of improving the freshness, range and availability of items. We focused a lot more on placing specific products in stores where they would sell more. We also focused on training our in-store colleagues to take better care of the flowers and plants and that has helped increase product shelf life. The quality has definitely driven the sales.

Our main goal is to make Spinneys a flower hub so customers can look to us for all their floral requirements, be it for special days such as Valentine’s or for bigger events like weddings or festivals.

There are also a few charitable organisations and events that we’d like to continue to support such as Pinktober, where all proceeds go to local cancer charities. We donated Dhs 50,000 towards that cause in 2020.

Do you have any tips for prolonging the freshness of flowers?

It’s important to put the flowers in water no later than 30 minutes after they’re bought. Trimming 1cm off the ends of the stems at a 45-degree angle is another way to ensure bouquets remain fresh as this increases water absorption. It’s also best to change the water every two days to increase shelf life.

FLOWER FARMS

Spinneys works closely with two companies based in Kenya and The Netherlands for most of its floral range. AAA Roses was established in 2011. It has two farms in Kenya covering a total of 80 hectares dedicated to the production of premium-quality garden and spray roses. SQ Flora is based in The Netherlands and works with carefully selected growers in Holland and Kenya to supply businesses such as Spinneys with a wide variety of fresh flowers ranging from tulips, lilies, carnations, hydrangeas as well as roses. “We work closely with a number of farmers to build long-lasting relationships so that we can benefit from each other. For example, during the run up to Valentine’s flower prices tend to shoot up. However, SQ Flora is able to source flowers from these growers at the same price they’re available at during the rest of the year. Therefore, the customers at Spinneys can buy flowers at stable prices instead of at inflated rates,” explains Robert Quak, founder of SQ Flora.