Established in 1948 and located in Jordan
Station, Ontario, Bayview Flowers specializes
both in growing and floral trading to provide
their customers with a variety of floral
products. With over 500,000 sq ft of production
space and temperature-controlled warehouses,
Bayview Flowers has the ability to transport
products all across North America. It’s
something they’ve done in new and different
ways of late.

Developments over the past year have seen them explore options with houseplants, as the Bayview
Flowers team has been trialing new foliage plants as an alternative to the “sea of green” that has
become common to see in many houseplant retailers. The team is also actively working to develop
foliage varieties in bright reds, yellows, pinks and purples in order to offer the bright colour of a
flowering plant that has the longevity of a green houseplant.

However, these are just some of the initiatives and products that the Bayview Flowers is focused on and
will be highlighting at this year’s Floriexpo event. To get a better sense of all these details, we caught up
with Stewart Cameron from the Bayview Flowers team to explore how the legacy of the company
impacts the approach they’re taking in the present, what sort of access their location enables for
customers and more, along with a bonus question about what they’re set to showcase at Floriexpo this
year.

Floriexpo: Can you tell us about some of your efforts to increase retail visibility and add consumer
value? In what way is that tied to the history of the company while also being connected to what
makes a difference with your customers today?

Stewart Cameron: Improving the purchase experience of houseplants and end-consumer value have
been areas we have been increasing our focus and effort in. The needs of our customers vary so it is
important for us to work closely with our partners, listen to and understand their needs, and offer
solutions that are catered to them.

We have seen increased interest in customized, point-of-purchase display solutions that help improve
in-store merchandising and retail visibility. As such, we have invested more resources in our retail
experience support team and carry a portfolio of solutions our customers can select from. This year, we
are excited to launch our new metal hanging basket display rack. This rack provides a great
merchandising solution for hanging baskets, in a compact way, to help optimize the valuable floor space
of our customers. Please stop by our booth for a full presentation of these solutions.

Another unique way we have been working to improve consumer value is by improving the post-purchase experience of the plants we offer. Our lineup of LIVING HOUSE® branded plants come with
special care tags. On the back of each tag is a registration code. By entering this code at
www.livinghouse.ca , users will be able to create a personalized plant profile and get access to advanced
plant care information and educational resources. There is also a chat feature that allows users to
submit their personalized questions. In this way, we can help support both new and more experienced
plant parents with their questions. We have also had an overwhelmingly positive response to this post-purchase plant care tool with 40,000 users (and counting).

What kind of a difference does your location being an 8-hour drive of some of the most populous
regions in Canada and the USA make to your customers?

Situated in Canada’s Niagara Region, Bayview Flowers has been able to arrange the fresh delivery of
plants to its customers due to our location in Southern Ontario. Being located directly between
Michigan, Ohio and New York has allowed us to support our strong customer base in all these
surrounding states.

Being within an 8-hour radius allows us to provide face-to-face customer support, merchandising, retail
execution and customer success. Our location in Canada also allows us to support eastern and central
Canada and the USA.

Your expertise with growing potted Gerbera is well established but how has the legacy of your
company and the experience of your current team further defined this expertise?

Providing excellent product quality is a core value of our business and we want to be industry leaders in
the crops we specialize in. As the largest producer of potted Gerbera Daisies in North America, we pride
ourselves on providing industry-leading quality year-round at our greenhouses. Ongoing work goes into
ensuring we are growing the best-performing varieties and our growing team does an excellent job in
consistently producing this product.

Our high-quality vision grader machine helps us determine which Gerbera meet our quality standards
and which plants need to go back into the greenhouses for some additional TLC.

What are some of the unique challenges that you’re hearing your customers are struggling with this
year? How are you helping them sort through and resolve them?

One of the challenges we continue to hear from our customers is a lack of time and resources. With our
dedicated sales account managers and support teams (marketing, merchandising, analytics, etc.) we can
provide an extensive level of service and support for our customers, including fully vendor-managed
programs. We also hear a desire from customers for new and fresh ideas. For us, this stresses the
importance of continued product development.

Each season our Creative Team works hard to put together new looks and ideas to help inspire our
customers and to keep their departments looking fresh. Another unique challenge has been the
inflationary changes across all industries worldwide. We have been able to provide our customers with
cost-effective and eco-friendly solutions which have helped us stay competitive and provide our
customers with ongoing cost savings and alternatives to meet their needs.

Bonus question! Anything that you’re especially excited to see come together or take shape for the
floral industry as a whole this year? What are you planning to show off to attendees at the booth?

We are excited for the industry to come together in person at Floriexpo! It always is so refreshing to
connect in person and dream up ideas together as we step into another new year.
Unfortunately, I can’t spill all the beans over this interview but we will have a sneak peek for our
customers in our booth! (Booth #317)

You can learn more about Bayview Flowers on their website or directly connect with their
team at this year’s Floriexpo event, taking place May 31st-June 2nd in Fort Lauderdale,
Florida.