This rose farming business plan sample is focused on the flourishing rose farming industry in Virginia. Roses are one of the leading flowers in the world of floriculture and Virginia is the best selling state for roses. Aside from being in demand for many decorative purposes and celebrations, the rising awareness of its medicinal properties drives the growth of this industry. Our rose farming business plan writers created this sample.
Executive Summary
“Rose Haven Farm” (herein also referred to as “RHF” or “the company”) was incorporated on March 5, 2021 by Co-Founders, Ms. Charlotte Heartwood and Ms. Diana Williams. RHF is in the process of establishing a commercial rose farm in Richmond, Virginia, USA.
In 2020, America exported $58.4M in cut flowers, overwhelmingly to the United States, in addition to Australia, Hong Kong, France and Germany. In the same year America imported $94.2M in cut flowers, mainly from Colombia, Ecuador, Canada, Netherlands and Mexico. With a trade deficit of -35.8M USD there is reason to support the increased production of cut flowers domestically; in the process reducing the demand for imported roses, supporting domestic demand, and opening new channels for American roses in foreign markets.
Both Co-Founders bring unique experience and specialization to this opportunity. Ms. Charlotte Heartwood brings an array of experience in commercial horticulture, having managed multiple projects in Iran. Conversely, Ms. Diana Williams brings 15 years of experience in marketing and sales, and plans to lead as the Sales Coordinator of the company.
With a variety of opportunities in Richmond for leasing and/or purchasing a piece of agricultural land, RHF continues to review each availability. The company is open to partnerships with local indigenous groups, government bodies, and local agriculture enterprises. This business plan outlines the strategy for RHF over the first 5 years of operation, and the benefits to the local community and economy.
Operationally, there will be two sides to the business; (1) the cultivation and sale of over 1,350 varieties of roses, and (2) a public rose garden, which is planned to open in year 5, and garner massive public interest. The overriding strategy for the cultivation and sale of roses lies in establishing three commercial greenhouses for a total of 160,000 sq ft (40,000 sq ft each). This will maximize production capabilities, allowing the roses to bloom throughout the year, and maximizing company revenue and profits. On the contrary, the public rose garden will only account for a fraction of profits, although it is seen as a vital part of RHF’s community impact strategy; developing local jobs, assisting tourism, and furthering RHF brand development.
Today, Rose Haven Farm is seeking a $1.5M USD loan to support the first year’s startup costs. The company is forecasted to breakeven by the 18th month of operation, and establish significant profits from year 2 onwards. With support from stakeholders, RHF can bring its vision to life and sway the US deficit in cut flowers, grow US administrative and agricultural jobs, and scale a substantial for-profit business, providing an array of community and adjacent industry benefits.
Business Overview
Rose Haven Farm (RHF) is a rose nursery and garden visitor center business, which plans to open the first, large scale rose garden visitors center in the USA. Co-Founder, Ms. Charlotte Heartwood has a business partnership with Paghera, an Columbian landscaping and botany company, which will provide the company with access to unique, patent protected roses and Italian design philosophies. The company is currently in the process of procuring a location to establish the nursery, greenhouse, and visitor garden. RHF plans to sell region-unique potted and planted roses, some of the first varieties in the USA.
Mission Statement
Our mission is to provide unique, proprietary roses to America, and create a welcoming and exciting space for people to visit and appreciate roses.
Vision Statement
Our vision is to be known as America’s top destination for unique, high quality roses and to have our rose garden recognized as a top tourist destination within the country.
Core Values
Our core values are as follows:
Always Innovate: Continue finding new ways to cultivate, expand markets and attract visitors. We support innovative ideas that make solid business sense.
Provide Unique Experiences: Prioritize customer experience above all else.
Build a Diverse Team: Our strength comes from the depth of our team. Continue to support your fellow team members, and push each other to achieve more.
Have an Attention for Detail: The key to our success is having a planned, strategic approach to everything we do. Use your attention to detail to ensure proper execution of each task.
Build a Better Community: Use our platform as a force for good; create local employment, educate, and provide a variety of roses.
Goals and Objectives
Short-term Goals and Objectives (6-12 months):
The following goals are to be achieved by July 1, 2023:
- Receive $1.5M USD in financing to successfully launch operations.
- Select a piece of agricultural land in Richmond to conduct operations on for the coming 5 – 10 years.
- Have the first of 5 greenhouses built, and plant the first round of roses in this initial greenhouse.
- Secure initial staff to successfully launch operations, and the initial greenhouse.
Medium-term Goals and Objectives (1-2 years):
The following goals are to be achieved by July 1, 2024:
- Begin selling our products to target customers, and successfully breakeven by Month 16 of operation.
- Develop a relationship with wholesale buyers, grocers, auctioneers, distributors, and suppliers.
- Have the second greenhouse built, and ensure the second round of roses are successfully planted, maintained and sold.
Long-term Goals and Objectives (2- 5 years):
The following goals are to be achieved by July 1, 2027:
- Have all 3 greenhouses built (for a total of 160,000 sq ft), producing product, and turning a healthy profit as per the following financial projections.
- Have the rose garden built and open to the public for use. Welcome patrons into our visitor center for the purchase of roses or other merchandise.
- Have 47 or more full-time staff members.
Market Analysis
The ornamental horticulture sector includes the floriculture (primarily cut flowers and potted plants), nursery, Christmas tree, and turf sod industries. Disruptions caused by the COVID-19 pandemic presented a number of challenges for the ornamental horticulture sector in 2020, including closures of both plant production and retail businesses, varying and rapidly changing reopening plans, increased costs to comply with measures to control the spread of COVID-19 among customers and workers, and general labour and specialist technician shortages resulting from restrictions on travel. When sales resumed in late spring in most of America, pent-up demand and a home-bound population drove sales upward by 6.4% from $2.39 billion in 2019 to $2.54 billion in 2020. Retailers adapted to pandemic restrictions by offering online shopping, curbside pick-up and home delivery, as well as physically distanced on-site sales.
Floriculture continues as the largest sub-sector accounting for 66.9% of total ornamental product sales ($1.7 billion) in 2020. Nursery plant sales and resales reached $727 million in 2020, accounting for 28.6% of total ornamental sales. The US generated a further $137 million in sales, contributing 6% of total ornamental production in 2020. In 2020, United States purchases were valued $658 million and accounted for 99.5% of total US ornamental exports while United States supplies were valued $284 million, accounting for 51.8% of total US imports.
Production
Floriculture (flowering and non-flowering live potted plants, greenhouse and field-cut flowers) remained the largest ornamental sub-sector by revenue, accounting for 66.9% of total sales. The total value of floriculture sales have been increasing over the last decade and rose 7.0% from 2019 to $1.7 billion in 2020, which is 15.9% above the 10-year average. About half of total floriculture sales in 2020 were in California (49.4%), with 24% in Virginia,14% in California and the remaining provinces accounting for 12.8%. Nursery product sales and resales were up 6.9% to $727.0 million in 2020, accounting for 28.6% of total ornamental sales. By province, California accounted for the largest share of total nursery sales (41.8%), followed by Virginia (32.0%) and California (14.5%).
While most floriculture production takes place within climate controlled greenhouses, most nursery production takes place outdoors. The 2016 Census of Agriculture showed both sub-sectors increasing in average farm size and decreasing in the number of operations, leading to fewer but larger and more productive operations. The most recent Census of Agriculture was conducted in May 2021 and the results will be released in 2022. The nursery industry is typically more vertically integrated than the floriculture industry with a combination of retail sales (garden centers), landscaping, installation, and maintenance services forming part of the income mix for many producers.
Government Regulations
Nursery Government Regulations
As a plant nursery, RHF is subject to various government regulations regarding the production and propagation of plants. This includes abiding by various plant movement regulations, quarantine regulations, and only using pesticides that have been approved by the Department of Agriculture.
US Nursery Certification Program (USNCP)
The CNCP is a phytosanitary certification program that allows approved facilities to sell, distribute, and move plants to ensure that all plants are free of pests. It is the responsibility of each nursery to ensure that no plants sold contain quarantine or injurious pests. Certified nurseries are subject to audit and inspection, and must adhere to the requirements of inspection and sanitation set out in the CNCP manual.
General Business Regulations
In order to operate a business in Virginia, it is necessary the business obtains the proper federal, provincial, and municipal permits and regulations. This includes registering for a business number and incorporating federally and provincially.
Market Trends
US Nursery and Flower Wholesaling Trends
In the USA, the flower and nursery industry was valued at $1.6BN in 2021, with a compound annual growth rate of 1.7% between 2021-2026. The industry is made up of 328 businesses, employing just over 5,593 workers.
RHF’s rose garden nursery will occupy the cut flowers and nursery stock segments, participating in 43% of the segment’s activity. Primary customers are supermarkets, grocery stores, florists, funeral homes, and individual consumers. Key external drivers for growth and stagnation in this market include per capita disposable income, residential renovation expenditure, consumer confidence index, and regional population. While the US Nursery market is highly fragmented, there are a few key players such as Florists Supply, occupying 1.5% of the market share and Holland Greens., occupying 0.5%.
Virginia is the second largest producer of nursery stock in the USA and accounts for 30% of the national nursery market. The nursery sector includes a variety of plant types, including herbaceous garden flowers, vines, grasses, woody trees, shrubs and a variety of coniferous and deciduous varietals. Despite having a robust nursery market in Virginia, the rose market is still largely untapped, with only a few key players provincially. The Virginia rose market is ripe for innovation, and the noncompetitive nature of the market provides a strong opportunity for RHF to capture significant market share.
Products and Services
RHF is an official representative of Paghera, an Italian landscape and garden design company, and plans to source unique, patent-protected rose varieties, which other competitors on the market will not have access to. The company will earn its revenue primarily from the sale of a unique variety of roses, in addition to visitor admission to its rose garden.
Pricing Model
The following table outlines RHF’s products and services, including the average price per unit in year 1. Prices will increase modestly, at an average annual growth rate of 2-3% per unit.
Competitive Advantage
The RHF’s competitive advantages are based on their industry ties with Paghera, giving them access to unique roses and authentic Italian landscape and design that stands out in the US markets.
Unique and Proprietary Roses: Paghera is a world renowned landscape design and botanical studio, crafting some of the world’s most unique roses and flowers, some of which are patent protected. RHF will enjoy a competitive advantage by having access to a wide variety of rose seeds, being the first company to bring many of these rose varieties to Richmond. RHF will also benefit from the temperate environment and suitable soil for rose growth in Richmond. Access to these unique rose and flower varieties will enhance RHF’s brand recognition, reputation, and performance qualities, giving them a competitive advantage over other nurseries in the area.
Rose Garden Center: RHF will also benefit from a first mover advantage in being the first rose garden visitor center in Richmond. The company plans to create a large visitor center and garden where customers can walk around and enjoy carefully curated and crafted rose displays and gardens. This will be a tourist attraction and community gathering place, which will provide cross selling and upselling opportunities. The Rose Garden Center will give RHF a competitive advantage as they will be the first of its kind in the USA to take inspiration and design principles from Paghera in Italy. The company’s strategic location in the Lower Mainland, in close proximity to high annual volumes of locals and tourists, will attract significant visitor traffic year round.
4.3 Key Success Factors
Key success factors for RHF are dependent on factors that impact the performance and profitability of the organization, and its ability to access rose varieties from its partner, Paghera. Macroeconomic factors that impact consumer spending, new development, and investment into interior and exterior design also impact the company’s scalability and growth. The key success factors that most relate to RHF’s success includes their:
- Ability to minimize flower and bulb wastage
- Ability to meet market demands
- Proximity to key markets and customers
- Close supplier relationships.
- Per capita disposable income of their consumers
- Ability to source and retain skilled workers
- Ability to accommodate changing environmental requirements and conditions
Sales and Marketing Plan
The company will primarily utilize a “direct to source” sales approach. Essentially, relationships will be established with the following target customers, and the rest will be left up to producing world-class rose products, and following through on delivery and execution.
Target Customers
The following list of target customers is in sequential order starting with “Exporters”, as the highest anticipated revenue generator, and continues to last, “The General Public” as the lowest anticipated revenue generator.
Exporters
Through local auctions via the United Flower Growers Association (UFGA), the company will sell the vast majority of product to an array of stakeholders, but namely exporters.
Local Grocers
Local Virginian Grocers will include: Saferoad, Real US Superstore, Price-Smart Foods, Save-on-Foods, Overwaitea Foods, Nesters Market, Buy-Low Foods and more.
Local Florists
RHF will sell roses directly to local florists including: ABC Florist, Delta Florist, Yours Truly Florist, The Wild Roses, The Flower Factory, Flowers by Angela and more.
Local Event Planners
Local Event Planners including wedding planners, celebration of life/funeral planners, corporate event planners, graduation event planners, charity event planners, private event planners and more.
Retail Customers
Retail Customers will be targeted through digital marketing, to guide them to the RHF ecommerce site. Boxes or Roses and Preserved Rose Products will be the key items sold online to retail customers.
The General Public
In year 5 the General Public will become a target customer once the company’s rose garden is launched. Couples, Families, and Tourists will be welcomed to the rose garden and charged an admission.
Key Channels
Direct Sales
The vast majority of sales will be generated through direct outreach. First, a comprehensive list will be created of the target customer including:
- Business name
- Segment
- Key contacts name(s)
- Phone number
Next, Charlotte and a third party sales team will reach out identifying as representatives of RHF. The sales team will begin to establish a rapport with the target audience in an effort to launch sales initiatives between both parties. A part of this technique will include in person rose sample drop offs, as a way to have the target audience enjoy RHF’s products in person.
Digital Marketing
Digital marketing will be utilized for brand development, online sales to retail customers, and to attract the public to the RHF rose garden in year 5. Digital marketing channels will include:
- Social Media – Facebook, Instagram, Linkedin, YouTube
- Search Engine Optimization – blog post writing and landing pages, including keywords
- Video Content – to be posted on the company site, and YouTube channel
- Google Ads – Pay per click ads to reach an array of online buyers
Key Performance Indicators
RHF will track the following key performance indicators (KPI’s):
- Gross profitability
- Revenue per employee
- Gross Transaction Value
- User Reviews
- Repeat Users
- Profitability per service type
- Average Lifetime Revenue per Customer
- Fixed vs Variable Cost
- Wastage Ratio
- Throughput of plant matter
SWOT Analysis
Operational Plan
RHF will operate as a rose garden nursery equipped with greenhouses and a farming area, and a rose garden visitor centre, with unique innovative landscape design. The company will benefit from the sale of both products and services, attracting business (retailers, florists, landscape designers, and wholesalers) as well as consumers who buy roses directly or visit the garden center.
The company will operate 7 days a week from 5am – 9pm, utilizing two, 8 hour shifts.
Operational Process
Nursery, Greenhouse and Farming Area
Service Offering: RHF will grow a number of potted roses to be sold as pots or cut flowers. The company will source roses directly from Paghera, benefitting from a wide variety of rose types that are not currently available anywhere else in America.
Payment Methods: Payment required 100% up front by cash, debit, visa, or cheque.
Rose Garden Visitor Center
Service Offering: The rose garden visitor center will be a carefully curated two acre space that has unique Italian landscape and design for visitor enjoyment. The garden will include walking paths and areas to relax and enjoy the natural landscaping. It will become a popular tourist attraction and destination for target audiences, and potential flower buyers.
Payment Methods: Payment required 100% up front by cash, debit, or visa.
Equipment & Inventory
With funding secured RHF plans to procure the following equipment and inventory in order to launch operations, and support this next stage of growth:
- Variety of Rosebuds (1,350 different varieties)
- 3 Greenhouses including Climate Control Systems
- Irrigation and Nursery Construction and Installation
- Soil and Fertilizer
- Greenhouse Equipment
- Bobcats and Excavators
- Automatic Rose Sorting & Bunching Machine
- Shovels, WheelBarrows, Plant Scissors
- Temperature Controlled Trucks and Containers
Health & Safety
As a business operating in the state of Virginia, RHF must comply with all standard provincial and federal health and safety regulations. Beyond the standard regulations, the company must comply with the following health and safety regulations as they apply to a nursery-based business:
The Presence of a Health and Safety Program: As a nursery business with workers engaging in manual labor, it is required by WorkSafeUSA that the company have a health and safety program. This program will contain the following six components:
- Hazard Identification and Risk Control
- Safe Work Procedures
- Orientation, training, and supervision
- Safety Inspections
- Incident Investigation
- Health and Safety Meetings
First Aid: Nurseries and landscaping companies are considered moderate risk workplaces and are therefore required to have a designated number of first aid kits and transportation on site. Additionally, it is mandatory that all safety incidents are recorded using an incident report form.
Pesticide Use: According to the State of Virginia, it is mandatory that staff operating pesticide administering equipment are provided with the proper safety equipment to prevent contamination and inhalation.
Location
Rose Haven Farm is seeking to procure a commercial lease property in Richmond, Virginia or North Carolina to run the rose garden and visitor center facility. The company has chosen this region due to its proximity to Florida, and the favorable growing conditions of Virginia.
Tourism Industry
Virginia’s tourism industry plays a large role in the provincial economy, being one of the largest employers of small- to medium-sized businesses. In 2020, the tourism industry generated $7.1B in revenue for the province, with 64% of visitors coming to Virginia or the Lower Mainland. Richmond is a prime location for a rose garden visitor center. As a top destination for outdoor tourism activities, Richmond has seen impressive growth in tourist visitors in the last two years, bringing increased visitor numbers from Virginia to the area. The Rose Garden visitor center will benefit from this increasing rate of visitor traffic, as well as bolster and support the increased demand for outdoor leisure activities in the region.
Richmond Flower Festivals
Richmond is known as a top destination for flower festivals, with a number of annual flower festivals bringing significant visitor traffic to the area. These flower festivals include the Tulip Festival, The Lake Flower Festival, and the Sunflower Festivals, among others. In addition to flower festivals, Richmond is known for its attractive farm visits and agricultural vendors. These flower festivals are extremely popular and bring significant visitor traffic to the area and provide a strong opportunity for RHF to participate in the growing market for flower tourism in Richmond.
Richmond Growing Environment
Richmond has been known to have some of the best soils and growing conditions in all of America for specific crops, flowers, nursery products, and sod. The combination of good soil, mild winters, moderate climate, access to water, and a robust working population of skilled agricultural workers creates a strong competitive opportunity for RHF. Additionally, Richmond’s close proximity to North Carolina’s market and developed transport infrastructure provides a good opportunity for the company to partner with distributors which can enable RHF to work with customers nationwide.
Risk Analysis
The following table outlines the company’s risks, and respective mitigation strategies to alleviate them:
Management Team
Ms. Charlotte Heartwood
Co-Founder & Site Manager
Ms. Heartwood brings over ten years of experience in the landscaping and architectural industries. She is an expert in hydroponics, green walls, and flower design, with a strong knowledge of growing and cultivating rose bushes and plants. She has previous experience managing a large scale nursery in one of the largest malls in California where Charlotte was responsible for both outdoor and indoor plants. Despite the harsh climate for growing roses in California, Charlotte was able to utilize her skills and expertise to cultivate proper growing conditions in both indoor and outdoor environments. She maintains a close relationship with Paghera, as the US Country Manager, and has direct access to a wide range of rose varieties, allowing RHF exclusive access to unique rose bushes. Charlotte will serve as Site Manager and Co-Founder of RHF. Charlotte will be responsible for running the daily operations and ensuring the execution of the company’s vision and strategic goals.
Ms. Diana Williams
Co-Founder & Marketing & Sales Officer
Ms. Williams is the Marketing & Sales Officer of RHF, responsible for implementing the marketing strategy and overseeing customer outreach. She has over 15 years of experience in marketing, sales and branding, and managing a scalable digital presence for multiple ecommerce platforms. In addition, she is an active member of the Virginia Real Estate Association, the US Real Estate Association, and the Real Estate Board of Richmond. Diana will be responsible for designing and implementing various marketing campaigns to attract and engage target audiences for all RHF products and services. She will manage all marketing channels and collaborate with key third party contractors to execute on all marketing and outreach activities. As an experienced digital marketer and sales professional, Diana will work closely with Charlotte and other team members to ensure significant brand awareness and recognition is achieved across all customer categories and segments.
Key Personnel
RHF’s personnel has been categorized into two divisions: Administrative Staff and Production Staff. The following section outlines each individual role, and their respective responsibilities:
Administrative Staff
General Manager
- Oversee day-to-day operations
- Design strategy and set goals for growth
- Maintain budgets and optimize expenses
- Set policies and processes
- Ensure employees work productively and develop professionally
- Oversee recruitment and training of new employees
- Evaluate and improve operations and financial performance
- Direct the employee assessment process
- Prepare regular reports for upper management
- Ensure staff follows health and safety regulations
- Provide solutions to issues
International Sales Coordinator
- Monitoring competitor activity and industry trends in order to identify opportunities for growth
- Meeting with clients to finalize contracts, discuss product features
- Ensure that all parties are clear on terms and conditions
- Researching new markets and potential customers to determine which have the biggest potential
- Setting pricing and margin targets in consultation with upper management to ensure profitability
- Reviewing bids from vendors that supply materials needed to create products
- Communicating regularly with suppliers to ensure that deliveries of materials are on time
- Negotiating contracts with foreign companies to establish new business partnerships or expand existing
- Planning and overseeing the production of goods for export, including selecting suppliers]
- Managing inventory levels to ensure that the company has enough product available to meet demand
Sales Coordinator
- Generating sales pipeline and developing qualified leads
- Creating and distributing marketing materials including advertisements, social media content, and print
- Developing the brand voice and creating campaigns that represent the brand
- Researching and developing marketing opportunities and plans
- Understanding consumer requirements, identifying market trends, and suggesting improvements
- Maintaining relationships with important clients by making regular visits, and understanding their needs
- Anticipating new marketing opportunities
Operations Manager
- Recruit, select, train, assign, schedule, coach, counsel, and discipline employees
- Communicate job expectations; planning, monitoring, appraising, and reviewing job contributions
- Plan and review compensation actions; enforcing policies and procedures
- Accomplish operations and organization mission by completing related results as needed
- Meet or exceed operations labor budget expectations
- Manage staff levels, wages, hours, contract labor to revenues
- Run a safe, injury/accident free workplace
- Responsible for all aspects of vehicle and heavy equipment rentals
- Manage relationships with key operations vendors
- Track vendor pricing, rebates, and service levels
- Review and approve all operational invoices and ensure they are submitted for payment
- Communicate all operating policies and/or issues at department meetings
Site Supervisor
- Supervising workers, subcontractors and work activities.
- Preparing and presenting site inductions, safety briefings and toolbox talks.
- Assessing and managing safety hazards.
- Ensuring appropriate site rules and welfare facilities are in place.
- Carrying out regular inspections.
- Helping project managers to plan the work programme.
- Helping coordinate deliveries of materials, plant and equipment.
- Completing records for site reports.
- Raising safety concerns at the appropriate level.
- Resolving problems and implementing improvements.
- Organizing and overseeing external inspections, such as with a health and safety inspector.
- Providing emergency first aid if required.
HR Manager
- Recruiting, hiring, training, and oversee employees of the nursery
- Providing hires with proper training and equipment
- Managing payroll
- Delegating jobs and ensure quality control
- Build an organizational structure
- Build HR policies and maintain them
- Recognize the employees and reward them for their performance and contribution to the organization.
- Moderate and act on employee benefit programs
Administrator
- Overseeing the daily business operations during regular operating business hours
- Managing all administrative functions as they relate to nursery operations
- Answering phone and emails
- Managing all incoming customer inquiries
- Developing and update any project documents, paperwork, and schedules
- Preparing, organizing and storing information in paper and digital form
- Dealing with queries on the phone and by email
- Greeting visitors at reception
- Managing diaries, scheduling meetings and booking rooms
- Arranging travel and accommodation
- Updating computer records using a database
- Liaising with suppliers and contractors
- Liaising with staff in all other departments
Accountant
- Documenting financial transactions
- Reviewing financial documents to resolve any discrepancies and irregularities
- Reconciling already documented reports, statements and various transactions
- Creating, reviewing and presenting budgets
- Recommending financial actions by analyzing accounting options
- Cooperating with auditors in preparing audit reports
- Providing guidance on revenue enhancement, cost reduction and profit maximization
- Submitting annual tax returns
Production Staff
Professional Gardener
- Determining optimal growing conditions for plants
- Accounting for light, sun, perspective, soil type, drainage
- Monitoring and oversee the daily operations of the nursery and growing conditions
- Setting budgets, order supplies, create growing schedules dependent on growing season goals
- Plants, transplants, fertilizes, applies chemicals, waters, prunes, and weeds flower beds and plant areas.
- Oversees the work of employees in supporting roles, including assigning workload and performance.
- Maintains flowers, bushes, trees, and shrubs.
- Recognizes disease and insect problems of woody and herbaceous plants and performs pest control
- Plants and propagates bedding plants.
- Maintains pesticide application records, employee timesheets, and other records as assigned.
- Operates motor vehicles to transport materials and equipment.
Truck Delivery Driver
- Deliver a wide variety of items to different addresses and through different routes
- Follow routes and time schedule
- Load, unload, prepare, inspect and operate a delivery vehicle
- Ask for feedback on provided services and resolve clients’ complaints
- Collect payments
- Inform customers about new products and services
- Complete logs and reports
- Follow regulations and safety standards
Labourer
- Working in indoor and outdoor nurseries and greenhouses
- Operating machinery such as tractors, skid steers, and specialized horticulture equipment
- Having a solid working knowledge of plant biology and diseases
- Has the ability to recognize different species
- Having the physical ability to conduct manual physical duties for extended periods of time
Customer Service
- Answering questions about a company’s products or services
- Processing orders and transactions
- Resolving issues and troubleshooting technical problems
- Delivering information about a company’s offerings
- Providing proactive customer outreach
- Handling customer complaints
- Collecting and analyzing customer feedback
- Responding to customer reviews
- Developing and documenting knowledge into helpful content
- Tracking customer service KPIs and metrics
Plant Pathologist
- Diagnosing plants for the presence of disease-causing pathogens or nematodes
- Examining plant samples with laboratory methods or microscopic observation to identify pathogens.
- Assisting biologists in the enforcement of government guidelines, policies, regulations and laws
- Teaching plant pathology at schools and universities as well as spreading awareness
- Developing new plant varieties that are resistant to particular diseases.
Recruitment Plan
Over the next five years, RHF will work to build a robust team of personnel. To facilitate this, the company will use a variety of recruitment platforms depending on the type of key personnel required. For administrative roles, RHF will recruit from LinkedIn, Indeed, Glassdoor, and other online job boards. For general contractors and labourers, the company will recruit using Craigslist, Glassdoor, and nursery specific job boards. To ensure the company is hiring top quality candidates, the HR Manager will be responsible for interviewing candidates and ensuring they meet or exceed the above requirements and responsibilities.
Community Impact
Employment
The company plans to hire locals at every opportunity. Jobs will be posted locally, and existing staff will be provided incentives for helping to bring additional local staff aboard. The following table provides an overview of each year of operation, and the number of employees projected to be working with the company:
Investment
There will be an initial $1.5M USD invested into the local community. Over the following 5 years there will be millions more reinvested locally through employment, rent/ownership of land, potential partnerships with Indigenous communities, raw materials, equipment and construction costs. Both Co-Founders recognize the positive impact a planned and coordinated investment plan will have on local stakeholders. At every turn RHF will invest locally, ensuring that local businesses and citizens are provided an opportunity to be involved and reap the economic benefits of the operation.
Cultural
Richmond is known for its thriving agricultural sector, so how will RHF create a positive cultural impact? The management team see’s the opening of the rose garden in year 5 to provide immensely positive cultural benefits. A fair comparison would be to the many pumpkin farms sprawling throughout the region, and family-oriented days to explore the farms.
There is something essential about family time being spent in nature. RHF plans to harness this and create an experience that goes well beyond a simple walk around the rose garden. The company is focused on providing an interactive experience where patrons have the opportunity to actively learn about how roses grow, their history, and their unique qualities which are often overlooked. Culturally, RHF wishes to have a subtle, yet uplifting, local cultural impact.
Financial Plan
The following financial plan incorporates a variety of variables including population growth in Richmond, Virginia competing rose farming businesses, existing clients of competitors and the potential for economic challenges. Moreover, these projections have been conservatively developed and have incorporated all potential expenses.
Pro Forma Income Statement
Pro Forma Cash Flow Statement
Pro Forma Balance Sheet
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