FruitFlowers (Fort Lauderdale)
***** FruitFlowers, 115 Northwest 43rd Court, Fort Lauderdale, Florida 33309, (954) 568-7089.
Got a good story for you guys…
Today-around 5pm Jeff Eats answered the front door bell to be greeted by a delivery guy holding a magnificent sculptured fresh- fruit bouquet wrapped in cellophane. I immediately yelled to Mrs. Jeff Eats who was in the house, “Who died?”—to which she replied, “Nobody died, it’s a Hanukka present from the kids.”
Anyway…
You guys gotta checkout FruitFlowers (www.fruitflowers.com) a small company that specializes in making/delivering fresh-fruit bouquets. The bouquet we got-came out of the company’s Fort Lauderdale store which services Miami to Jupiter. For right now, there are five other locations, that cover New Jersey, New York City, Pennsylvania and Salt Lake City…hey! -I told you it was a small company, didn’t I? By the way, FruitFlowers does deliver hand dipped chocolate strawberries/raspberries/blueberries-anywhere in the United States by overnight FedEx/UPS.
Now being the inquisitive person that he is, Jeff Eats immediately tried the bouquet’s honeydew, strawberries, chocolate strawberries, grapes, kiwi, cantelope–and I have to tell you, that the fruit was delicious-fresh and as-cold as could be. I’m guessing that the refrigerated truck that the delivery guy came in -had something to do with the fresh/cold part of the story-but that’s just an educated guess.
Having survived the “initial” shock that someone might have “passed” (died)…Jeff Eats did a drop of checking on FruitFlowers.
FruitFlowers was started something like 30 years ago in Pennsylvania. For whatever reasons, it never-really developed into a huge company–thus the current 6-locations which when you think about–don’t really cover too much geography. About a year ago, Arun Sareen- a Washington, D.C. accountant/businessman acquired the company–and will soon role out a retail store/internet franchise offering–that (if all goes according to plan) should give FruitFlowers a national foot-print in a couple of years.
Now, nothing for nothing, Jeff Eats knows that there are bigger players in the fruit bouquet space…that said, the segment unlike cupcakes/yogurt/burgers isn’t overly saturated-so, if Mr. Sareen can consistently (with the operative word here being–consistently) deliver fruit like Jeff Eats-got…the man may just have a business with-legs. As they say, “The proof is in the pudding” so we’ll just have to see how this one shapes-up!
When you check www.fruitflowers.com you’ll find something like 100 different fruit bouquets–FruitFlowers also does vegetable bouquets…prices from the $30’s-$100’s. Unlike Obama’s–the internet system/telphone ordering systems appear to be a snap to use.
Finally, just in case you’re wondering—4 years tuition at University of Arizona, 4 years tuition at University of Connecticut, 1 year tuition at Nova University and the little rats went for a grand total of 85 bucks for all 8-days of Hanukka…you do the math!
We use FruitFlowers to send gifts throughout the year for work. We have an account with them which makes working with FruitFlowers that much sweeter! They deliver beautiful products that are also healthy with the option of adding chocolate dipped fruit, cards and balloons to ANY of their baskets. The fact that they worry about the logistics so I don’t have to is a real time-saver with the payoff of making our company look good! …Definitely worth a call as the holidays approach!
Jeff,
LMAO… parenthood is a thankless job. I only hope that I live long enough to become a burden to my children.
The fruit sounds wonderful. I’ll have to send an arrangement to my sweet 92 year old mother-in-law.
A belated happy Chanukah.
Love the story.
Jeff, you really crack me up.
No question, I get a basket at the door and I think someone died.
Looked at the site and the baskets look amazing.
Jeff,
Best column yet.
http://www.fruitflowers.com
From: Ellen Davis
Subject: A fellow Brooklynite!
Message Body:
Hi Jeff,
Loved your piece about Fruitflowers. I, along with my sister-in-law partner,
started this business back in 1984. We created the concept of the sculpted fruit
arrangement and so the industry was born. Unfortunately, we were a much larger
company with 35 units not so long ago. Our history makes for very interesting
reading, especially for a lawyer! The story of how our major competitor began is
also a very engaging tale. I hale from Brooklyn (1950) and live in Philly for
the past 42 years. Thanks for the great piece. Our work does speak for itself.
Happy Hanukkah and whatever else you may want to celebrate!
Not sure I’d want to be in this type of business.
Definitely would buy the bouquets. Would also love to get them.
I sure would rather get a fruit bouquet than some basket with jars of jams and other crap.
This column had me rolling on the floor.
I have used this company and another one called Edible Arrangements. Basically the same thing. The problem is these are very small operations. Around the holidays, Valentines, Mothers Day etc. they are swamped. They often leave phones off the hook. You can order online but deliveries can be spotty or late. They charge a delivery fee as well. Quality might not be as good in peak season as they really rush things out
Over the years I have literally used tons of different companies around the United States to delivery fruit baskets and other gift items and give or take one or two I never had a problem with late or incorrect deliveries.
The fruit flowers are different that those other baskets you might have sent around the US. The fruit gets a lot of manual work, maybe as much or more than flowers. In fact they are far more reliable and sometimes better outside of the holiday times. They don’t have the manpower to get the work done. They both have a corporate type website that filters the orders to them. I can only tell you my experiences with the local south fla units.
Received a terrific fruit bouquet yesterday. It looked great and the fruits were delicious. Company did a great job.