The Carolina Flowers Business Model

What does a flower farm have to do with, say, Carnegie Steel? More than you might think!

First, let's start with what Carolina Flowers does. We’re a flower farm — 5 acres and growing. We’re a florist, delivering flowers to homes around Asheville 5 days a week. We have a great website that powers our online orders. AND, most importantly, we’re an event company. We create flowers for weddings and events year round. In fact, weddings make up 60% of our business!

The business textbook term for what we do is vertical integration, which means we nurture our flowers from the literal dirt all the way to their most valuable form: your dining room table or your daughter’s wedding, for example. Carnegie Steel is one of the famous early examples of vertical integration, a company that created its own supply chain. And we all know how well that played out! Many companies today use this business model. It puts a lot of balls in the air, but if you can juggle them all, it pays off.

Why is this interesting? Well, because at Carolina Flowers we're thinking different about agriculture than farmers have in the past and we’re getting different results.

To pay a living wage and compete in the current economy, farmers really need to control their own product all the way to its most value added stage. Other companies you know are leading the way! Locally, look at Hickory Nut Gap for a great example.

Flowers are particularly appropriate for vertical integration. That’s because they’re highly perishable, so any changes that shorten the supply chain also have big advantages for the quality of the product.

All that to say — are you still with me? — we reject the vision of a poor farmer with holes in his shoes who can’t pay his bills. Instead, we embrace living-wage careers in agriculture. These aren’t C-suite jobs — no one is getting rich — but we’re working hard to restore financial sufficiency and dignity to the farming profession.

When you buy from us, the full value of the flower stays with the farm that grew it. That short supply chain makes all the difference in the life of the farmer.

Our craftsmanship begins with the seed, but it goes all the way to the event day. Our farm provides lots of benefits that show up in our wedding flowers. Because we’ve eliminated a lot of middle men, we can price really competitively and provide fresher flowers than a typical florist. Plus, we’re experts on nature, so we like to imitate flowers’ natural movement in our designs.

We have a team of florists who prepare your order and install it on event day. Because of our business model, we can employ specialists. You don’t want a tired farmer showing up to do your wedding at the end of a long week. We send you fresh blooms and fresh talent!

Our flowers come from the farm, but they aren’t farm-y. We work in ballrooms and on estates. We adorn long aisles with flowers and dangle them from chandeliers. I love this photo from James and Candace’s wedding at Grove Park Inn this past summer. Many thanks to Adornment Photography for sharing it with us. I wish I knew the prompt they used to get these amazing facial expressions, and I love how the flowers add even more personality.

All that to say, I have high hopes for what our mighty band of farmers and florists can achieve. Some farms ship flowers in the mail, but we like to focus on locals. We’re starting right here in the Asheville area with daily delivery from Weaverville to Mills River and Black Mountain to Candler — and event deliveries all the way to Charlotte!