In the Polish city Kargowa, Dutch entrepreneurs Bert de Graaf and Marcel Muster started a new tulip nursery: Flora Tulips. This month, the first flowers will be harvested, the perfect moment to put the project in the spotlight. We talk with Flora Munster, Marcel's daughter and responsible for the quality and production at the company.
"At that location, the Dutch entrepreneur Bert de Graaf already had his own company where he packed bulbs and flowers," she says. "Together, separate from that company but right next to the company, we built a greenhouse, including a processing hall and cooling cells. Marcel is a tulip grower, Bert knows the Polish market and thanks to their knowledge and experience we were able to realize Flora Tulips.
"The nursery was born out of the desire to get closer to the consumer," she continues. "We wanted to work more business to consumer instead of business to business. By setting up this company, we skip several links in the chain and in turn can guarantee a better quality of the flower as they are fresher and less transport is needed."
On top of the advantages of local production, the local demand is big (rising), the entrepreneurs say. In general smaller producers are active in the market, but a company as Flora Tulips, with a size of 2 ha and a Dutch background, did not exist yet. "That makes us a unique player in the Polish market."
After harvest, the flowers are being bunched, sleeved and labelled. Then, they are being put on water and placed in the cooling. When the flowers are sent out, they are being packed in boxes on pallets and are being shipped directly to their clients, the Polish supermarket.
For more information: 
Flora Tulips Sp.zo.o
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