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Scott Hoots

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Feb 8, 2008
13
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Kings Park
State / Prov
NY
Business: 1-800-Flowers

Location: Carle Place

Type of Business: Franchisor of retail shops

About Me: I am the Director-Franchise Operations at 1-800-Flowers. I work with our Franchise Team to manage our franchise business. I am new to the flower business, but experienced in the franchising business.

Scott
 
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Hey Scott...welcome to the FlowerChat community.

Just a word, based on your employer...I hope your a little thick skinned.

BTW, Kudos to 800 for the removal of the paper directory, something that has been outmoded for years in favor of a digital version.
 
Thanks for the welcome Boss, I appreciate that! Are you the same "Boss" that moderates another forum dedicated to local marketing for florists?

As I said in my intro, I am new to this industry, with most of my experience being in franchising. The success of our franchise program is my directive at 18F.

Being new to the forum, I appreciate the heads up. Will any negative opinions be focused on the "order gatherer" vs. retail florist debate, or something else 18F related? Just curious what I may be in store for! :)
 
Thanks GFL, I appreciate the welcome. I'm just looking over some posts in other forums...hmmm....maybe I should leave....nah....I just want the 65 franchise florists (who are very real people just like the folks on this board) I work with the to be successful and make some money. Looks like there are some great ideas floating around here that might help us all...even outside of what looks like "the great debate".

Scott
 
Scott Hoots said:
Will any negative opinions be focused on the "order gatherer" vs. retail florist debate, or something else 18F related? Just curious what I may be in store for! :)
Click to expand...

First welcome, and yes your skin better be very thick indeed. There are many threads in here that will answer your above question.

Perhaps your presense here will serve to inform.

V
 
Welcome, Scott.

In my 'last life', I worked in the Operations Dept. of Conroy's - well before the company was acquired by 1-800-Flowers. The inside of the flower franchising business is indeed fascinating.

The franchisor/franchisee relationship can be healthy, contentious or both. In that vein, I've noticed that the 1-800-Flowers main site has managed to become the linked website for each local store listed in Google Local in our area; replacing the franchisees' independently operated web sites.

Has 1-800-Flowers changed the fees/commissions to their local franchises to pay the 10.75% franchise fees on orders generated through the national site, or are these stores charged the usual 29-31% rate just like other BloomNet members?

I can't see how 1-800-Flowers can track the orders coming in through those links to make sure the right store (the one linked-in from) gets the order.

Since the national site offers many drop-ship products, do those franchisees earn commission when a consumer purchases something other than locally delivered flowers? It's their stores and locations that lead consumers to the national site.

It's these kinds of tactics that make the 1-800-Flowers franchisor/franchisee relationship very different than other franchise models.
 
Thanks for the welcome Victoria. I am reading and see what you mean. I appreciate the open mindedness of your post. Looks like I will be learning alot about the dynamics of the entire industry here, which will be good. Regardless of the main business objective of my employer, my job depends on the success of local florists. My department budget doesn't include a dime that is dependent on orders distributed by 18F, my revenue is completely driven by retail sales and orders sent. Looks to be interesting!

Scott
 
CHR said:
Welcome, Scott.

In my 'last life', I worked in the Operations Dept. of Conroy's - well before the company was acquired by 1-800-Flowers. The inside of the flower franchising business is indeed fascinating.

The franchisor/franchisee relationship can be healthy, contentious or both. In that vein, I've noticed that the 1-800-Flowers main site has managed to become the linked website for each local store listed in Google Local in our area; replacing the franchisees' independently operated web sites.

Has 1-800-Flowers changed the fees/commissions to their local franchises to pay the 10.75% franchise fees on orders generated through the national site, or are these stores charged the usual 29-31% rate just like other BloomNet members?

I can't see how 1-800-Flowers can track the orders coming in through those links to make sure the right store (the one linked-in from) gets the order.

Since the national site offers many drop-ship products, do those franchisees earn commission when a consumer purchases something other than locally delivered flowers? It's their stores and locations that lead consumers to the national site.

It's these kinds of tactics that make the 1-800-Flowers franchisor/franchisee relationship very different than other franchise models.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the welcome. Indeed, franchisor/franchisee dynamics are interesting to follow.

With respect to Google Local...I'd invite you to continue to watch how that develops over the next couple of months. Rather than talk about it, I will let my actions speak louder than words. But, a change won't happen tomorrow, it has proven to take a little bit of time.

We have also introduced local websites for the franchisees, where they can collect their own online orders at 100%, only paying us a franchise fee (obviously in addition to the cost of operating the website). This is only a first step, more steps to come.

Conroy's has certainly had it's shares of ups and downs. Not sure when exactly you worked there, but as you said it was before 18F purchased the brand. I'm sure we are a much smaller organization than when you worked there. Once thing I do know; however, is that there are some new and very dynamic franchise owners who are doing some great things in Conroy's. And, some of the older owners are also getting revitalized. We just had a fabulous convention with both 18F and Conroy's franchisees getting together and learning from each other. I hope that we can continue to build upon the relationship improvement that we started with that convention.

Scott
 
Scott,

Welcome to FlowerChat! We're always happy to have the opportunity to interact with wire service folks, as lack of communication is often a factor in anti-WS sentiments.

I've had opportunity to work in a small way with Grower Direct, a franchise chain of upwards of 90 florists, mostly located in Western Canada. I am very interested in seeing how 18F acts to support and grow their franchises.

Cheers,

Ryan
 
Scott - thanks for your answer. :)

Conroy's had about 80 stores back then and my specialty was working with newer franchises that didn't meet their numbers (either from a sales or profit standpoint.)

Just like most chains, there were great and not-so-great franchisees. Most of them were hard-working, conscientious people and all had invested heavily to obtain their stores. A few are still running their locations after all these years.

I know many of the stores already have their own websites and it's good to hear they will be getting orders generated by their local presence. Their overhead is huge and they need as many full-price sales as possible.

Since the majority of 1-800's franchises are out here, are you west coast based?
 
CHR said:
Scott - thanks for your answer. :)

Conroy's had about 80 stores back then and my specialty was working with newer franchises that didn't meet their numbers (either from a sales or profit standpoint.)


I know many of the stores already have their own websites and it's good to hear they will be getting orders generated by their local presence. Their overhead is huge and they need as many full-price sales as possible.

Since the majority of 1-800's franchises are out here, are you west coast based?
Click to expand...

I am based out of Long Island, but we still have an office in Burbank. I make a trip out there 6-8 times per year. My presence in Long Island is to help manage our department costs efficiently.

If there were 80 Conroy's then, looks like you were there ahead of some of the Conroy's growth.
 
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