A flower shop business plan is a plan for stock that dies. Roses and lilies are bought from a wholesaler twice a week, kept in a cooler, and sold within days, and whatever doesn't sell in time is thrown out, so every arrangement has to carry a share of the stems that wilted. A shop also pays rent, a cooler and counter help every month, so its first year needs cash before the regulars and the weddings arrive. In the example below, a florist in Alaska sells roses in vases, wrapped bouquets, bud vases and wedding flowers, and ends its first year about $24,500 ahead on $170,000 of sales, after paying its designers and counter help, but it needs about $10,000 of cash to get to month 6. Below is a description example, each part of the plan, the first year month by month, the startup budget, and a free template.
The short version
- Describe the shop in a paragraph: the arrangements, the weddings, the delivery area, the goals.
- Cost an arrangement from the stems up, with an allowance for the stems that wilt unsold.
- Pay the design minutes in the cost; counter help is a fixed cost.
- Weddings bring the biggest orders; everyday bouquets bring the most money over a month.
- Rent and the cooler run from day one; the first months need working cash.
- Valentine's Day and Mother's Day are a month's sales in a week; plan the stems and the hands.
- TaroStack keeps stems by delivery date, arrangements as recipes, and every order by day. More below.
Part 1: the business description
Fireweed Floral, a made-up florist in Anchorage, Alaska, I use in these examples, writes:
Fireweed Floral is a flower shop with a walk-in display cooler, selling arrangements, bouquets and bud vases over the counter and by delivery across Anchorage, and designing flowers for about three weddings a month in season.
Part 2: what each order costs
The shop throws away about 9% of what it buys, stems that open too far or wilt before they're used, so each arrangement carries that share of its flowers.
| Per unit | Dozen roses in a vase | Seasonal bouquet | Bud vase | Wedding |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Flowers, greens, vase or wrap | $22.02 | $12.00 | $4.00 | $850.00 |
| Stems lost before sale, about 9% | $1.60 | $1.00 | $0.35 | $50.00 |
| Design at $20 an hour | $6.67 (20 min) | $5.00 (15 min) | $1.67 (5 min) | $600.00 (30 h) |
| Delivery and setup at the venue | $60.00 | |||
| Card or invoice fees, 3% | $2.55 | $1.35 | $0.45 | $84.00 |
| Variable cost | $32.84 | $19.35 | $6.47 | $1,644.00 |
A wedding's flowers are bought for the date, so little is lost; everyday stems are bought for sales the shop expects, which is where the 9% goes. Measuring what's thrown away is in waste log template, and why the oldest stems should always go out first is in stock rotation methods.
Part 3: customers and prices
| Product | Price | Variable cost | Contribution | Margin | A month at full speed |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dozen roses in a vase | $85.00 | $32.84 | $52.16 | 61.4% | 60 |
| Seasonal bouquet, wrapped | $45.00 | $19.35 | $25.65 | 57.0% | 200 |
| Bud vase | $15.00 | $6.47 | $8.53 | 56.9% | 150 |
| Wedding: bouquets, boutonnieres, 12 centerpieces | $2,800.00 | $1,644.00 | $1,156.00 | 41.3% | 3 |
At full speed the bouquets bring about $5,130 of the month's $13,000 of contribution, the three weddings about $3,470, the roses about $3,130 and the bud vases about $1,280. A wedding is the biggest single order and the most hours, 30 of design and setup; the everyday bouquets are steadier and come with the stems the shop already has. Delivery is charged on its own, so it isn't in these numbers.
Part 4: the first year, month by month
Fixed costs are $5,385 a month: shop rent ($2,200), cooler power and utilities ($350), insurance ($150), the website and wire service ($150), marketing ($300), the delivery van's fuel and insurance ($400), part-time counter help ($1,800), and software and card fees ($35). Sales start at 15% of full speed and reach it in month 11:
| Month | Roses | Bouquets | Bud vases | Weddings | Sales | Profit | Cash, year to date |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 9 | 30 | 23 | 0 | $2,460 | −$3,950 | −$3,950 |
| 2 | 12 | 40 | 30 | 1 | $6,070 | −$2,321 | −$6,271 |
| 3 | 15 | 50 | 38 | 1 | $6,895 | −$1,840 | −$8,111 |
| 4 | 18 | 60 | 45 | 1 | $7,705 | −$1,367 | −$9,478 |
| 5 | 24 | 80 | 60 | 1 | $9,340 | −$413 | −$9,892 |
| 6 | 30 | 100 | 75 | 2 | $13,775 | $1,697 | −$8,195 |
| 7 | 36 | 120 | 90 | 2 | $15,410 | $2,650 | −$5,545 |
| 8 | 42 | 140 | 105 | 2 | $17,045 | $3,604 | −$1,940 |
| 9 | 48 | 160 | 120 | 2 | $18,680 | $4,558 | $2,618 |
| 10 | 54 | 180 | 135 | 3 | $23,115 | $6,668 | $9,286 |
| 11 | 60 | 200 | 150 | 3 | $24,750 | $7,622 | $16,908 |
| 12 | 60 | 200 | 150 | 3 | $24,750 | $7,622 | $24,530 |
The year's sales are $169,995 and the profit $24,530, after paying the design hours and the counter help. Cash falls to −$9,892 by month 5, so the plan keeps $10,000 of working cash, and every wedding takes a deposit. Valentine's Day and Mother's Day each bring a rush that a month's average hides; order the roses early and book extra hands. The month the fixed costs are covered is worked out as in break-even point for a food business; the arithmetic is the same for flowers.
Part 5: the startup budget
| Item | Example |
|---|---|
| Floral display cooler | $8,000 |
| Shop build-out and counters | $10,000 |
| Vases, containers and hard goods | $2,000 |
| Design bench and tools | $800 |
| Used delivery van | $12,000 |
| Point of sale and website | $1,500 |
| Signs | $1,200 |
| Working cash | $10,000 |
| Total to start | $45,500 |
The cooler and the van are $20,000 of it. At $24,500 a year, the $35,500 spent before working cash takes about a year and a half to earn back. Keeping a cooler organized so the oldest stems are found first is in walk-in cooler organization.
Get the template
Download the flower shop business plan workbook. Four sheets: your arrangements and weddings with price, variable cost and a month's volume at full speed; the first year, month by month, with sales, profit and cash; your fixed costs; and your startup budget with working cash. It's an ordinary Excel file with no macros, and it works in Google Sheets, LibreOffice and Numbers.
Where this stops working
Thirty kinds of stems from two wholesale deliveries a week, each with its own date, vases and ribbon by the case, a wedding's flowers ordered six weeks out and arriving on a Thursday, and a Valentine's Day that sells a month of roses in three days. A notebook can't say which stems came in Monday and have to go first, how many red roses are promised for the 14th, or what a dozen in a vase costs now that the wholesaler raised roses.
How TaroStack does it
TaroStack keeps stems by delivery date, arrangements as recipes, and every order by day.
Stems by delivery date. Each delivery is received as a lot with its date and a short shelf life, counted in the cooler on a phone, and arrangements are made from the earliest dates first, so the Monday stems go before the Thursday ones.
Arrangements as recipes. A dozen roses in a vase is a recipe of its roses, greens, vase and ribbon, so each one takes them off stock at what they cost, and stems that go in the bin are adjustments with their reason, so the 9% is measured, not guessed.
Orders by day. Each order and each wedding is a sales order for its day, so the roses promised for the 14th are one number, and the price creep report shows when the wholesaler raised roses.
| The job | Notebook | In TaroStack |
|---|---|---|
| Which stems go first | Read the buckets | Lots by delivery date, earliest first |
| Roses promised for the 14th | Count the order slips | Sales orders by day |
| Stems thrown away this week | A guess | Adjustments with a reason |
| What a dozen in a vase costs now | Last season's price | A recipe, at what you paid |
Counting, lots, recipes, sales orders and adjustments are on every plan, from $49 a month. The first 30 days are free, with no credit card. If you'd like a hand setting up, ask, and we'll do it with you.