Author: Williee Armellini, Flowersandcents.com

Floriexpo 2025 Flowersandcents.com review

Floriexpo 2025 Fort Lauderdale Florida.

This year’s event is now in the history books, and I call it a success. This show was the first since the new management took over and I found everything bigger and better than ever. 

This is a mass market show that bills itself as the “America’s largest B2B event exclusively for floral” This is a distinction between it and the IFPA event which incorporated produce and floral.

This year we saw even more of the large bouquet companies exhibiting. Passion, Elite, Sunshine Bouquet and Queens to name a few. The best thing about this show from the exhibitor’s perspective is that this show is smaller than IFPA and therefore buyers can spend more time with them.

 The show organizers proclaim that this show is about buyer quality not quantity. That means that the halls are not crowded with people but those walking around are the people who vendors want to see.

Since I am the guy walking booth to booth with my hat and camera in hand everyone asks me what I think of the show. My response is generally influenced by the last person that gave me their perspective. 

What I heard was that there were good buyers in the hall and that they only need one or two good contacts to make the show and expense worthwhile. I also heard that there were a lot of retail florists in attendance. This is not a surprise to me since local retailers want to see what the mass marketers are buying and what the vendors are showing.

The show began on Wednesday with a Floral Bootcamp where many subjects were covered. A few of the vendors had their designers showcase their latest offerings, floral trends and tips on how to upsell.

Of course, there was a panel on AI which is the subject of the year and maybe the decade. This alphabet soup of terms like Gemini, ChatGPT, Jasper and so on are now starting to make sense in my brain. (But slowly).

I heard an interesting quote that says that:

 “AI will not take your job but if you do not adapt and embrace it you will be replaced by someone who does.”

Back to the show, I am also frequently asked what I saw, that was new or different and I must admit not so much. What I did see were bouquets made up in every possible combination imaginable. I also noticed some vendors/growers who traditionally serve the wholesale segment looking to expand their reach and get a piece of the mass market business.

Iron Designer Challenge:

This very popular event pits sponsored designers against each other in a 20-minute challenge. Every contestant has the same products to use and asked to create a design for a theme. This is a lot of fun, and every contestant had a fan club cheering them on.

Edward Amaya of Galleria Farms was the winner.

Next there was the flower naming ceremony where a new variety is named after and dedicated to an individual.

This year Juan Carlos Hannaford was given the honor for a white rose called Unstoppable Light, and we got to hear him speak more words than I have ever heard from him.

(Read this carefully) After much discussion I learned that European private equity money is behind much of the floral consolidation that I have reported on in my previous posts. Companies are not being taken over and absorbed into one giant company but are selling a share of their companies to take advantage of the capital and economies of scale to hopefully increase their market share.

When the show floor closed on Thursday some were invited to a VIP event organized by New Bloom Solutions called the Bloom Together Event. Here buyers and sellers were able to meet in a more personalized environment. 

Designer extraordinaire Peter Landman and floral consultant Joe Don Zetzsche spoke about a topic called “Flowers need help” since both are involved in mass market sales they spoke about the fact that during holidays floral departments need help to get the flowers out of the back room and on to the floor for sale. They also discussed how floral departments should order products to make processing and preparing easy for the staff. Keep it simple.

After this event the much-anticipated yacht cruise was on everyone’s mind. Hundreds of guests were loaded onto a party ship and away we went to see the Fort Lauderdale riverfront. This is a great way to make you wonder where all the money comes from. Homes as big as hotels with even bigger yachts parked outback. 

The drinks were flowing and when the music started the ship was rocking. Latins have dancing in their blood, and it was on full display. A good time was had by all. 

There you have it, and now I invite you to watch my video review of the event. Thank you!

Williee Armellini

Editor: Flowersandcents.com

Where the floral business gets their floral news.

williee@flowersandcents.com