Floral retail veteran Jennie Garbarek on all things Valentine’s Day

Listeners looking to leverage floral as a growth area in 2025 are in for a treat: retail veteran Jennie Garbarek will join The Produce Retail Podcast host Ashley Nickle on the show each month this year to discuss all facets of floral at retail. Jennie’s previous roles have included floral buyer at Roundy’s; category manager for floral at Mariano’s; and floral merchandising manager at SpartanNash. She is a member of the International Fresh Produce Association’s Floral Council and an advisory board member for Floriexpo. Jennie has had experience further up the floral supply chain as well, and she’s currently the sales director of mass market, North America, for floral supplier Tessacorp.

In this episode, launching 30 days in advance of Valentine's Day 2025, Jennie takes listeners behind the scenes of preparation for the biggest day of the floral year. Topics include planning, which begins about a year in advance; ordering, which Jennie explains is best done early as possible and in close partnership with growers; logistics, which inevitably involves fighting for truck space and air freight; staffing, which Jennie notes is most effective when employees are assigned specific roles for the big day; assortment, which should be carefully tailored knowing that nothing specific to the holiday will move after the day of the event; merchandising, which should adjust throughout the day based on stock levels; the transition out of the holiday — Jennie advises a "clean break" — and more.

You'll be hard-pressed to find a better deep dive on floral at retail than what Jennie will be providing this year. Tune in and let us know if there are topics you'd like us to cover. We hope you enjoy the conversation as much as we do!

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