Floréac is celebrating its 70th birthday. In order to honour this moment we gathered some of our long-standing partners to reflect on the joint development of our cooperation, across generations. To mark the occasion, you can also find their special celebration offer in our 70 Years – 70 Days of Deals promotion! Join us for this one-of-a-kind celebration—you’ll love being part of it!
Urban Edge or Slow Living? City nomads or people who prefer the quiet life? There’s a suitable range for every target group. This is the underlying philosophy of Kolibri Company, the private label of OK Plant. With the ever-glorious Phalaenopsis in the leading role and timeless green plants as the supporting act. All against a backdrop of matching pots and other home accessories. Enter the world of the Dutch nursery!
Every year, OK Plant produces over 5.980.000 high-quality orchids and 1.105.000 seasonal products. Numbers that are enough to make you dizzy! Add in the matching decorative pots and trendy home accessories and you have a success story that started back in 1990.
What can you tell us about the pioneering days at the beginning of the co-operation with Floréac?
OK Plant has been working with Floréac since the start. To put it even more strongly, the fact that they now have such a strong range of plants and decorative pots might even be due to Floréac. Marketing Assistant Lotte van Marrewijk explains. “OK Plant started out growing Saintpaulia. Floréac was one of the biggest clients at the time and when these plants came under pressure, they helped us to come up with ways to make them more attractive again.
This marked the start of a range of decorative pots. We even had a special tote bag developed at the time. By means of personal communication and brainstorming, we sowed the seeds of a bond of trust that still exists today. You just know that they will keep their promises.”
How many generations does this go back in the history of your company?
In the year 1990 Rob Olsthoorn and his partner Desiree took over the nursery from his father in De Lier. In the beginning, the focus was on the Saintpaulia or African violet. In 2004, Rob was given the opportunity to purchase a much larger plot. A tipping point. Rob and Desiree felt that there wasn’t much future in Saintpaulia and found a fabulous alternative: the Phalaenopsis. At the time, it was a big trend in pot size 12. They wanted something else and started experimenting with 9 cm pots. But size isn’t everything. A high-quality plant also deserves high-quality added value. With this plan in mind, they began to lay the foundations of a new construction project.
A decision that has certainly borne fruit for OK Plant. The company really took off and new acquisitions followed in 2011 and 2016.
Is there a anecdote you can tell about our collaboration?
Thijs van der Valk, commercial manager, explains.
“ Alex (Hendriks) has been involved with your company as a buyer for a very long time and we have a close cooperation with him. Alex’s words are always ‘those underprivileged growers,’ this comes up in every consultation and conversation. We laugh at this every day.
Once at a party at Moterra (Floréac platform Netherlands), we put on one of their cycling suits and took it home. A day later I got a call that they really needed it for their cycling trip.’”
The following anecdote also reveals that there is certainly a click between the two parties. A few years ago, OK Plant was invited to visit Floréac to get to know the company better. Due to an incident on the road, the journey lasted six hours instead of the scheduled two hours. All the same, everyone still enjoyed themselves. Time flies when you’re having fun!
How has the business relationship developed over the years?
In the past, we grew Saintpaulia (Cape violet) and Floreac was one of our biggest customers.
From 2008, we started growing Phalaenopsis in 9cm pots and Floreac dropped away as a customer. We did always keep in touch and trade during that time.
From 2012, we got fixed lines in Phalaenopsis and then turnover and cooperation rose to a nice level.
Every year, we do market visits and give presentations to buyers and sellers to draw attention to our products.
