Flowers 104

Throughout the entire program, we have interspersed a series of presentations to give the student an understanding of the business aspects of a retail flower shop. These subjects in their entirety constitute Flowers 104.

The ability to take an order accurately and completely is highly stressed. A thorough presentation of a standard industry form will be taught in class. Students practice the various types of orders they will encounter in a "typical" flower shop. These range from the "walk-in", telephone and wire-in order. During this part of the course, a student will also learn the proper method for pricing floral arrangements and other floral products. Various floral industry standard mark-ups and labor charges will also be taught. Flower identification is important for every staff member of a florist. This part of the course will require the student to learn the top varieties of flowers and greens carried by most florist across the U.S.
During the business section of the course, students will be introduced to the Wire Services. These include FTD®, Teleflora™, Carik and Florafax. The bookkeeping methods for this system are also described. Schedule permitting, the FTD Representative from the area is a featured guest speaker. A field trip to one or two of the floral suppliers is offered as part of the course providing all course work has been met up to the day the trip is scheduled. The trip is tentatively scheduled the last day of class and all students are required to attend.