David Carroll Clark Intro

[David Carroll Clark]

What is your website address?
www.kendall-farms.com
How long have you been in business?
27 years
Do you have any formal floral education?
Ran a FTD Top 100 flower shop for 20 years
How were you referred to FlowerChat?
Google
What do you hope to gain from membership?
Networking
What do you feel you can contribute to the community?
Years of experience from a florist that was once in the top 5% of the industry.
Do you operate from a commercial building or your residence?
From a farm.

 

[Victoria]

Hi and welcome to the community. How did you find your way to your current business?

V

 

[TGDragonfly]

Hi David,
I looked at your website, I love that area or California. How long have you been with Kendall?

Welcome to the community, it will be great hearing from a successful florist who has information on the availability of California flowers, and the unique experience that growers have.

I hope learn from you.
Thom

A great addition to our membership. Thumbs up here.

 

[Connie]

Welcome aboard!

 

[Victoria]

Thom, make sure you register your vote where the little scales are.

V

 

[TGDragonfly]

Thom, make sure you register your vote where the little scales are.

V

V I'm still new here, where are the scales located?

 

[Victoria]

Join Date: Jan 2009
Posts: 500
Casino cash: $874
Blog Entries: 1
Nominated 30 Times in 12 Posts
TOTW Award(s): 0
Thanks: 94
Thanked 425 Times in 165 Posts
Groans: 0
Groaned at 12 Times in 6 Posts

Right above the copied info you'll see the number of the post, the scales and the alarm triangle. Click on the scales and mark whether you approve or disapprove. I always sign mine because I'm not big on hiding. This is also where you add to people's reputations (green dots).

V

 

[TGDragonfly]

Join Date: Jan 2009
Posts: 500
Casino cash: $874
Blog Entries: 1
Nominated 30 Times in 12 Posts
TOTW Award(s): 0
Thanks: 94
Thanked 425 Times in 165 Posts
Groans: 0
Groaned at 12 Times in 6 Posts

Right above the copied info you'll see the number of the post, the scales and the alarm triangle. Click on the scales and mark whether you approve or disapprove. I always sign mine because I'm not big on hiding. This is also where you add to people's reputations (green dots).

V

Ahhhh! thank you. I thought this process was for a chosen few. Thanks! God I love this forum

 

[sharonbrannigan]

welcome to fc....

 

[Victoria]

Ahhhh! thank you. I thought this process was for a chosen few. Thanks! God I love this forum

It is for the chosen... and you passed muster upon application.

V

 

[alisonm1215]

Welcome to FC, Please post often, we need fresh thoughts and questions.
thanks

 

[David Carroll Clark]

Hi and welcome to the community. How did you find your way to your current business?

V

Hi, thanks for the welcome. After selling my retail businesses and watching the mass markets whittle away at the mom and pop retailers I decided to join them on the dark side.
Seriously though, working with supermarkets and regional markets developing bouquet programs is an exciting challenge that I'm doing in the second part of my professional career.

 

[David Carroll Clark]

Hi David,
I looked at your website, I love that area or California. How long have you been with Kendall?

Welcome to the community, it will be great hearing from a successful florist who has information on the availability of California flowers, and the unique experience that growers have.

I hope learn from you.
Thom

A great addition to our membership. Thumbs up here.

Hi Thom... thanks. I've been with Kendall for just under a year now. I was with another bouquet maker here in San Diego Co., for the year prior to that.
We have a new web-site at Kendall that will be ready in the next couple weeks that will be a great tool for the retailer and wholesaler alike. I'll keep you posted on it's progress.

 

[David Carroll Clark]

And thank you to everyone else for the warm welcome.

 

[TGDragonfly]

Ok Ok folks, I can feel the heat out there. simma down na. He is not an enemy, but a unique insight that might be able to assist us to compete on our own level.

David, we are at a loss with what to do about all the mass marketers that have devalued our product. Can you share with us what you hope to gain from us? What can you advise us to do to compete with grocery stores?

We are a friendly group of honest tax paying business people that want to succeed, except for me, I am a bad boy.

thanks,
Thom

 

[Victoria]

Thom, he's in. See under his name. It says registered user. He now has full access to all of us.

V

 

[David Carroll Clark]

Ok Ok folks, I can feel the heat out there. simma down na. He is not an enemy, but a unique insight that might be able to assist us to compete on our own level.

David, we are at a loss with what to do about all the mass marketers that have devalued our product. Can you share with us what you hope to gain from us? What can you advise us to do to compete with grocery stores?

We are a friendly group of honest tax paying business people that want to succeed, except for me, I am a bad boy.

thanks,
Thom

You're right Thom... I'm not an enemy. I too was in the same position as many of you. Battling to keep my walk-in traffic from disappearing because of the big bad supermarkets. Bottom-line is that the supermarkets are doing a great job now. In some cases they are doing a better job then most of the little guys out there. Don't flame me for saying, I'm just pointing out a sad fact of the situation the flower biz is in right now. My best advice is to stand-out and have more varieties, fresher product and offer quality and service that the supermarkets can't touch. I can't tell you how many shops I have visited that had only a very limited selection of fresh flowers that were half dead. You wouldn't buy shoes from a shoe store that had only 1 pair of sub-par shoes and told you if you wanted something else, to look in a catalog. Flower buyers are the same, they want to have their senses WOW'd.

As far as what I want to gain from this group: I still have a lot to learn and I know I have a lot to teach. I enjoy interacting with people I consider as peers. And in my heart I still think of my self as a guy making a buck from a bucket of stems.