Roses are Red…So Is Volcanic Lava: How The Bouqs is Changing Online Flower Delivery

Stephanie Nguyen Feb 8, 2013 Tweet

You don’t need to know floriography to know that flowers’ myriad meanings have been ingrained in our cultural psyche since time immemorial. Spanning the sentimental spectrum from “You’re my true love and best friend” to “I’m so sorry, please forgive me,” flowers find a way to fill in the gaps where words won’t do. Finding the perfect bouquet can be similar to any phenomenon where the reality of the outcome is never as good as it seems on the Internet. Enter The Bouqs, an online floral company offering fresher, brighter, more affordable, and longer-lasting flowers from farms that treat the environment and their workers with care.

From tiny seedling to blossoming dining table centerpiece, these flowers are handled with care each step of the way. The day you place your order, the flowers are cut from farms located in South America. The perk of being grown on an active volcano is that each flower is fed by “pure volcanic melt water and mineral-rich ph-balanced soil.” They are hydrated for 12-15 hours before their trip, carefully wrapped in craft paper with a bow, shipped through US customs, and overnighted to your door. They are refrigerated the whole way until the very last leg, so they are as fresh as possible when they arrive. Unlike other online websites, The Bouqs’ flowers are cut just five days before they arrive and last up to three weeks in a vase.

This Venice, California-based startup that launched November 2012 has since served thousands of lucky recipients with farm-fresh bouquets. What cofounders John Tabis and JP Montúfar built was a premium experience at an accessible price point. Distinguished by their vibrant visual aesthetic, customers pay a flat $40 price for every bouquet listed on their site. Want more? A double bouq is $50, and a triple bouq is $60.

Further distinguishing themselves with three types of subscriptions, people can express their true feelings, with each plan customizable to serve a different need:

1. Never Forget – Plan to auto-ship flowers to the important people on the most important dates.
2. Just Because – The best reason to send flowers is no reason at all.
3. Regular Blooms – Order biweekly/monthly for that special someone who loves to have flowers on the kitchen table.

For many flower shoppers “the process is lengthy, needlessly complex, and cumbersome,” explains John Tabis, cofounder of The Bouqs who realized these roadblocks through his own experience. “In the end, you finally see the bouquet and think, well, it’s sort of what I ordered…but not really.” The Bouqs solves these consumer pain points and wraps it up in a brand that is modern, yet still preserves the feeling of a beautifully thoughtful gift.

While the photography online is clearly stunning, the flowers in physical form live up to their billing. “We’ve had a phenomenal response and deliver on a superior product. People say the flowers are bigger, brighter, smell better, and last longer than flowers they’ve ordered in the past,” shares Tabis.

Let’s stop and realize that the season of love, gushing ooo-ahh’s, and pink/red infused everything is right under our noses. For an industry that can seem extremely traditional and stale, The Bouqs breathes new life into floral delivery, making it relevant, romantic, and important again.

Be sure to visit The Bouqs before the 7th to treat your loved one to something this Valentine’s Day.