New Flower Truck Business Logistics: Tips and Tricks
When you start thinking about launching a flower truck, you might immediately focus on branding, packaging, the actual truck itself, and pop-up locations. This is natural for creative people.
Before you create the look and feel of your flower truck, lay some groundwork.
Research each community where you want to do business. You will need to register your business and apply for city permits and licenses to operate in parking lots or on the street.
Tip: In some communities, permits is challenging. They may know how to permit a food truck, but a flower truck may be something new and likely doesn't fit into an existing application or approval process. Make an appointment to discuss your plans with your city business license department before investing.
Starting a flower truck takes a bit of research and legwork.
Determine the Type of Business Structure You Need
Check out the Small Business Administration website and your Secretary of State website for helpful business start-up information.
You may want to work with an accountant to determine what is best for your situation.
Determine Your Naming Structure
You may want a name for your legal business entity and a separate trade name or doing business as (DBA) name.
Business and Sales Tax Licenses
Starting a business requires a bit of tedious but necessary licensing work. Here are a few of the basics:
Register your business and trade name(s) with your Secretary of State.
Secure an Employer Identification Number (EIN). This is like your business's social security number. You will need it frequently.
Once you have your Trade Name Certificate from the Secretary of State and your EIN, you need to register for a sales and use tax number; in some states, it is called a Transaction Privilege Tax (TPT) number with your State Department of Revenue. You need to know the cities where you will sell flowers or host private events. Not all states require this number, so please check with your Department of Revenue to determine what you need.
All of the above may be needed before you can complete an application for a city business license or permit.
Here’s What to Do to Prepare for Your Business License
Determine the cities where you will do business.
Research the city business licenses and permits offered in your community.
Complete, in draft, the license and permit applications for the cities where you think your flower truck will operate—make sure to include the location of pop-ups.
Make an appointment with the city business licensing department to discuss the concept and type of business license and permits needed.
Bring your draft applications to the appointment as a place to start the conversation.
Identify the time it takes from submitting your applications to receipt of any licenses and permits.
Tip: Do the above in parallel with your business registration work. It can take some time for a city to determine the best way to license a flower truck. Annie's Flower Truck holds Street Vendor or Mobile Vendor permits, depending on the city. Do not agree to a Mobile Food Vendor (food truck) permit as the process and requirements are overreaching for selling flowers.
There are many options for your flower truck—from a VW Volkswagen to carts!
Buying a Flower Truck
The Volkswagen Single Cab Bus or Transporter pick-up is frequently used as a flower truck, but there are many darling flower trucks created in other vehicles.
There are vintage vehicles, mail trucks, sheep wagons, horse trailers, and carts pulled behind bikes.
You are limited only by your imagination!
For more information, check out Mobile Flower Storefront Options and Considerations.
For those that like the look of a vintage VW Single Cab Transporter, the best resource is thesamba.com. This website has classified ads, history, production specs, and forums. If you can't find it on the site, ask someone, and they will connect you with someone that can help you.
“Have a vintage car restoration expert look at the vehicle you are thinking about buying.”
Have a vintage car restoration expert look at the vehicle you are thinking about buying. It may cost you a couple of hundred dollars to have them evaluate it, but this is well worth it.
There are stories of people buying trucks that "look good" on the outside, only to have to replace engines, fuel, or brake systems. Local car clubs or service shops are a great place to find someone to look at your potential flower truck.
Tip: Find a local vintage mechanic and make friends. This may be the most important piece of advice.
A clean title with a matching Vehicle Identification Number (VIN) is also essential.
Look for a local, independent business that specializes in vehicle titles. These businesses are likely skilled at working with vehicles that do not have current registration, are older, come from out of state, are a pain to get emissions tested… you get the idea.
These professionals can help you navigate your state's registration and licensing process and requirements. Bring the title from the seller and your checkbook.
“When designing the build-out of your flower truck, consider all the truck’s potential uses. ”
If you use your truck for your mobile flower business, you are a commercial business. As much as you may want to pay only for collector car insurance, the business likely exceeds the maximum mileage of 2,500 miles per year established by many insurance companies for a collector car.
When designing the build-out of your flower truck, consider all the truck's potential uses. Vintage trucks make great props for photo shoots, displays in retail stores, cocktail bars, and for some, weekend campers. Build flexibility into your truck with modular display elements that can be easily removed.
Consider how you brand the truck. Permanent branding looks great but may be a barrier for some photographers or potential users. Learn the pros and cons of the types of graphics and choose what best fits your business needs.
Flower Truck Build Out
The Annie's Flower Truck build-out has four elements:
16 bucket spots for fresh flowers
8 bucket spots for greens
Shelving or drawer unit for branded promotional items such as notecards, decals, hats, totes, or whatever the day's event warrants
Operations or wrapping area
Tip: The fresh flower bucket area also has a removable shelf overlay covering for bucket spots. This has proven to be a great tool if we run short on inventory due to high sales volume. It helps keep the truck looking full.
The operations or wrapping area includes a piece of butcher block, plywood, resin, or some material that will hold up to water and a lot of activity.
This is where you will wrap bouquets and interact with customers as they pay. Create a good-looking storage solution that can hold stem cutters, twine, promotional items, branding items, towels, etc.
For more reading, check out this flower truck business guide.
Use a type of moisture wrap (like the one pictured here).
Buying and Ordering Flowers for a Flower Truck Business
Visiting your flower grower or wholesaler to select flowers for your truck or a private event will become one of the most enjoyable parts of owning your flower truck business.
It is also the area that can have the greatest impact on your profits.
Flowers are generally sold by the stem, by the bunch, or by the box. The number of stems in a bunch depends on the type of flower.
Be sure to ask how many stems are in a bunch or a box before ordering.
Some flowers, foliage, greens, or branches sold by the bunch can be broken down, further extending the number you can sell by the stem.
For example, eucalyptus frequently is bunched in branches that you can cut up into more single stems that are easier for the customer to pull from the flower buckets. Blooming tree branches are a great opportunity to break down something large into multiple smaller stems that become very profitable.
Flower buckets look best when they look full. For ease of pulling stems, they should be full but not stuffed tight. In general, 10 stems will fill a bucket nicely. This will vary by the type of flower.
“Some flowers, foliage, greens, or branches sold by the bunch can be broken down, further extending the number you can sell by the stem. ”
If you have large Banksia, you can probably only fit five or six stems. If you have mini Gerbera daisies, you can probably fit twenty stems. If you have multi-stemmed spray roses, it might be less than ten so that the flowers don't get damaged as they are removed from the bucket. Think about the size and ease of pulling as you are ordering.
Don't over-order. It is better to sell out your truck and go home early than to come home with a lot of flowers in your truck.
Tip: The first time we ordered flowers, we sat down with a bottle of wine and had the best time browsing what was available. We ordered boxes of flowers—not just bunches but boxes. Remember, a bunch might have ten stems, but a box might have 150 stems! We WAY over-ordered.
The silver lining to having hundreds of flowers remaining at the end of our first weekend was that we donated the flowers to a hospice care program and a local hospital and received tax receipts from both. In the end, we spread some joy, which is one of the primary objectives of the business.
Pricing Flowers for a Flower Truck Business
People buy flowers from a truck differently than they purchase flowers from a retail florist.
A florist can manage the financial return on a bouquet because they are selecting the stems or the ingredients that make up that bouquet. At a flower truck, it is a build-your-own experience.
A truck usually offers a variety of flowers at a variety of price points per stem.
The general guide for the retail florist's pricing of flowers is three times the cost. This is a good guide for the overall inventory you have on your truck for each pop-up.
Offering unusual flowers on your truck will differentiate you from the grocery store or perhaps some florists.
“Offering unusual flowers on your truck will differentiate you from the grocery store or perhaps some florists. ”
Customers will not likely pay three times the cost for these unusual and hard-to-source flowers, so price them at maybe two times the cost.
Other flowers you can purchase quite inexpensively and may price them above the three times guide.
Greens or branches that can be broken down into many stems will also help get you above that three times mark. If the overall flower inventory on the truck exceeds three times and that will make the day profitable.
Tips: Each week, create a spreadsheet or pricing guide that works out the cost per stem and the potential price at two, three, and four times the cost. Make a note of the final price decision. This helps you look at profitability each week and offers a great pricing history.
The Look & Feel of Your Flower Truck
You're a creative person, so naturally, when you started thinking about starting a flower truck, you began with a vision of what you wanted the truck to look like and the feel of the guest experience.
With the licensing and equipment needs discussed, here are some things to consider for the branding of your business and the flower truck:
Choose a Business Name
Create a list of potential names and spend some time with them. Do some research to see if:
The name is already in use in your state
The website address is available
The Instagram account is available
If your goal is to sell the business, you may not want to include your name so that someone else can easily see themselves as the owner.
Fun fact: The artist who created our branding was discovered on Pinterest when searching for floral tattoos!
Outline your Brand
What is the single thing you want people to walk away with when they see your brand?
How are you going to use the mark? Make sure it is easy to use in social media, online, print, and promotional items.
The more colors and detail you have, the greater the expense. Small lines may be lost in reproduction. Keep it simple.
Who owns the logo art? When you are negotiating with your artist, make sure you own the art and have the right to use it in the ways you want to, such as signage, online, social media, branded merchandise, and collateral items like brochures and notecards.
As a deliverable, the artwork should come to you in multiple file formats: jpg, ai, pdf, as well as in black & white, four-color, and reverse (white on a dark background).
A Truck Full of Happiness
By popping up at a business, you are adding a little bit of beauty to their doorstep.
You will have guests drive up crying because they have had a rough day, or leave crying happy tears because it was just what they needed or what their friend needed.
It may sound corny, but your flower truck really will spread happiness.
