"The potential of perennials is huge. New varieties and species continue to emerge. It is the only group of plants that still develops, there are so many possibilities for further growth and development," says Tomasz Michalik, President of the board of Vitroflora. Vitroflora is a horticultural company that is specialized in the production of young plants and starting material for ornamental plants, particularly perennials.
Vitroflora's business consists of several independent activities. According to Michalik, the most important ones are the sales of young ornamental plants in plugs, and the production of tissue cultures in their laboratory. The tissue cultures are also used to produce Vitraflora's own plugs. Vitroflora is internationally active, and is based in Trzęsacz, Poland.
In this article, Michalik tells us more about Vitroflora's activities, and their road to the international market.
Tomasz Michalik, President of the board of Vitroflora
Fifty years of Vitroflora
Vitroflora was established in 1977 by Anna and Karol Pawlak."We are a family company; this is visible in the way that we treat employees and customers. We combine corporation protocols with family management. All those years, we focused on the natural development of our company, and delivering a high-quality product.
We know from our own experience how important the quality of the young plants is; their health, rooting, and alignment significantly affect the success of the crop. This focus on quality and natural development has always been our main goal, and it brought us good results. We believe that our growth is a natural result of this approach," says Michalik who is the company's CEO for 34 years.
Initially, the company was concerned with Gerbera young plants for cut flower production. The first growth impetus came after the end of the Communist regimes in Poland and other European countries. In 1994, they started with the production of pelargonium young plants, and they soon expanded their range to include other annual bedding plants varieties. "We became the main supplier of bedding young plants to the Polish market, with most of our young plants being produced in Poland."
Throughout the years, Vitroflora seized the opportunity to expand their business activities beyond Polish borders. Today, the company operates internationally. "Our plugs are sold to Poland and most other European markets, whereas the tissue cultures are destined for exports outside Europe. Moreover, our laboratory is Naktuinbouw-certified, and maintains elites for breeders from all over the world."
The production of perennials plugs in Poland
Entering the West-European market
Michalik points out that from the beginning, Vitroflora sold its young plants (mainly perennials) on external markets. Especially the German and Dutch ones. However, this was always as a subcontractor. Approximately fifteen years ago, Vitroflora began their business activities outside Poland, selling under its own brand with their own sales team. Michalik tells us more about this process and the challenges that the company encountered.
"It was a strategical decision to enter the West-European market. Our first big market out of Poland was Germany. Soon we also managed to do business in the UK, Scandinavian countries, The Netherlands, France, and Switzerland. What helped was that perennials as a group of plants became increasingly important at that time. There was a lot of growth and development."
Nevertheless, Michalik points out that entering the West-European market was not an easy task for a company based in Poland. "Being located in Poland, we constantly had to convince our West-European clients that we offer a high-quality product instead of cheap labor. Additionally, we also had to understand the markets of all those European countries. Thanks to our international sales team we overcame these challenges. Furthermore, our logistic department managed to find a way to safely package and transport our young plants without compromising on their quality."
The company's greenhouses
Towards the future
When asked what he expects of the future for Vitroflora and the wider industry, Michalik says the following: "We think that there is a bright future ahead. There are still many possibilities to develop, we keep introducing varieties. Recently, we won the Retail Award in the Best Novelty category with Agatache 'Agapk' (Beelicious Pink) at the 2024 autumn edition of Plantarium|Groen-Direkt.
Moreover, there are many markets that we can explore further. Especially Romania, and also Hungary have a lot of potential to become important markets for us. Ukraine was also very promising, but the ongoing conflict made that we had to stop selling there. We also sell to the Asian market, but it's in the beginning, currently it's not our main focus."
In addition, he mentions that Vitroflora will keep an eye on the latest developments regarding logistics and EU legislation, saying: "Reducing carbon emissions and transportation costs becomes increasingly important in the industry. It's an important issue for our company because we have to transport our products across all of Europe. Likewise, we make efforts to reduce peat usage, and chemical products. Lots of subjects to work on."
Perennials from Vitroflora's collection
For more information:
Vitroflora
[email protected]
www.vitroflora.pl