Pre-pandemic, British family grower Double H Nurseries in New Milton, which this year celebrates its 60th anniversary, sold its orchids on the high street in major supermarkets but as Covid-19 struck, demand plummeted almost overnight. Owners at the Hampshire nursery were faced with 7-hectare giant glasshouses filled with the nation’s favorite houseplant but with no-one able to buy them.
Realizing that beautiful plants delivered to the doorstep could be the uplifting tonic many people needed, the grower hastily set up its first-ever temporary online shop and within just five weeks, it had sold tens of thousands of orchids direct to customers across the UK. This move immediately saved the business from financial ruin, secured the jobs of its existing workforce, and spared 50,000 orchids from the ‘compost heap’.
A year on, the company’s online houseplant business, Love Orchids, is now a permanent feature boasting revenue that bloomed from zero to over £0.5m in just 12 months. Forty-two new jobs have been created across its business on the back of the online shop’s initial success and increased demand from trade customers for other types of British-grown outdoor and ornamental plants.
Long-lasting alternate
With a new-look Love Orchids website, rebrand, and product range just launched, the firm now has plans to grow its business even further, promoting orchids as a long-lasting alternative to cut flowers.
Andy Burton, Managing Director of Double H, said “We’d long been pioneering orchids in the UK but when the pandemic happened, everything changed. Faced with composting plants, we wondered whether there was a way to get those flowers straight into people’s homes, and that’s how Love Orchids was born.”
Andy took over the reins at Double H late last year from his uncle and is the third generation of his family to run the business. “Our existing wholesale business is now back on track and employing most of these extra staff and it’s all thanks to the launch of our Love Orchids online shop in the early days of lockdown. We’ve been able to put a smile on people’s faces during a tough time, and those of our new and existing staff!” he said.
www.loveorchids.co.uk
