COVID-19 Update with Patrick Dahlson & Ian Prosser

With the COVID-19 pandemic greatly affecting the world, including our floral industry, we are seeing so many conversations about what is going on and how to best proceed as a business. One of my newest flower friends, Scott Shepard, reached out on Saturday to see if we could work together on this special episode of his podcast to talk about how coronavirus is effecting our community. I connected him with our CEO, Patrick Dahlson, and below is the resulting interview with him and Ian Prosser of Botanica International Design and Decor Studio.

Patrick encourages all of us to work together, reminds us that we've gotten through dark days, and that we will get through this hurdle. He also talks about what is happening on the wholesale end - the demand for flowers, flower inventories and where we are getting flowers from, logistics and freight, cancelled or postponed events, Mayesh's order cancellation policy, flower consumption, special measures within the company, speculative inventory, and more. Patrick ends the interview with how while we don't know where this is going that he hopes that we all stay as positive as possible.

For the second half of the interview, Scott chats with Ian Prosser about what he is seeing in his segment of the industry. He personally has had hundreds of thousands of dollars in cancellations. Ian talks about his contracts, how to he is being considerate to the client so that his company can still function over the next few months, how majority of the events are not cancelling but rescheduled, how the Tampa event professionals are working together, applying for financial assistance, and more.

As I sat down to write this blog this morning, I caught up with my emails which included a great COVID-19 Best Practices overview from SAF. Be sure to head to their website to read through all of their great resources that includes coronavirus floral industry updates, PR tips, HR advice, customer communications, research of flowers & stress, government resources, and much more. In addition to their resources page, Society of American Florists is also hosting a webinar tomorrow (Tuesday, March 17th) at 2 pm EST to cover industry best practices. 

Also, don't forget to check out Curate's 5 Tips for dealing with COVID-19 and your floral business and Real Flower Business' "How Will Coronavirus Impact Your Wedding Business?" post.

I know that many others are trying to do their part to help our industry. If you know of any other resources that would be helpful or you have your own experience to share, please post them in the comments below.

 Stay healthy, stay positive, and we will get through this together.