Valentine's Day Follow-up: Three Areas in your Business to Know & Control to Make a Profit
The post-Valentine's chatter on social media told a frustrating story: shops had more orders than ever, doubled their deliveries — and barely broke even. "You should just expect to work harder for less profit on a holiday," someone posted. To which a Flower Clique member named Ralph replied exactly what Vonda and Lori believe: no, it doesn't have to be that way. Fresh off their industry-wide Valentine's Day Roundtable webinar — which brought together Bill Doran branch managers Mike Bentley (Albany) and Scott Jewitt (San Antonio) plus Amy Desperado of Natural Flowers representing the farm side — the hosts break down the three areas of your business you can actually control.
The real problem: prices didn't move with costs
The consensus from the roundtable and the members' shop talk was clear. Flower and container costs were way up — sometimes three times the usual standing-order price, plus surprise fuel surcharges passed down the chain — and the shops that suffered were the ones that didn't raise their prices to match. Meanwhile, Flower Clique members who priced with confidence had a different holiday entirely: one shop sold roses at $159 a dozen "and nobody blinked an eye"; a Florida shop quoted $115 a dozen and the customer said, "Okay, I'll take two dozen." The shops that held at $99 because they weren't confident enough? They worked themselves to death for little return. As the hosts put it: don't price yourself out of business trying to match the grocery store — you're not selling the same quality or service.
The three words: labor, facilities, and COGS
Vonda's framework gives every owner three numbers to watch. Facilities — rent or mortgage, depreciation, taxes, insurance, building maintenance, and utilities — should run less than 10% of gross sales. Labor is the balancing act: a flower shop (technically a small manufacturer) should keep labor under 30% of gross sales overall. For the average U.S. shop doing around $500,000 or less annually, that means roughly 20% for employees, leaving 10% for the owner-manager's salary. Cost of goods sold is where this Valentine's Day hurt most: target 30–33% on fresh flower arrangements, and about 36% overall once lower-markup giftware and plants are figured in. A deeper-dive course breaking these down by role and category is coming from Flower Clique later in the year.
The overtime question
Lori raises the debate she kept seeing: shops proudly paying holiday overtime versus shops that "shut it down" rather than pay it. Vonda's take — during a holiday, overtime usually doesn't kill you, because productivity is so high; designers on an adrenaline-fueled assembly line can produce twice their normal output, so the math tends to average out. The caveat: long days eventually slow people down, which is why some owners cap hours. The smartest approach came from a member who budgeted a set amount of overtime into his Valentine's forecast in advance, with a clear line he wouldn't cross. There's no single right answer, but there is a right method: plan it, don't discover it on the payroll report.
Surcharges, forecasts, and the question with no answer
One roundtable complaint deserved its own moment: shop owners weren't upset that fuel surcharges existed — they were upset nobody warned them. Lori compares it to her recent ski trip, where the Airbnb emailed about its COVID surcharge in advance and Colorado restaurants posted small signs before you sat down. A heads-up lets you build the cost into your pricing; a surprise on the invoice blows the budget you set weeks earlier. Vonda shares how Flower Clique handled its own version: knowing FedEx holiday rates were rising, she and Audrey had to project February flower-box volumes back in mid-December so FedEx could plan trucks and drivers — and they nearly nailed the number. As for the question half a dozen people emailed in — is there an end in sight to shortages and high prices? — both hosts give the honest answer: they don't see flower prices returning to the old days. Demand is high, customers are paying fair prices, and these costs are likely here to stay. Which is exactly why your prices have to move.
Stop competing on price
The closing mindset shift: stop obsessing over the shop down the street or the grocery store cooler. Focus on covering your overhead, then do what you do better — elevate the look, the service, the experience — so you're no longer comparing apples to apples. "I'm worth this. My work is worth this," as Lori puts it. If you don't value your product, nobody else will either. And remember Vonda's simple profit test: compare what you bought to what you sold. Those two numbers tell you whether you're making money.
Key takeaways
- Control the big three: facilities under 10% of gross sales, labor under 30%, fresh-flower COGS at 30–33% (about 36% overall).
- When costs spike, reprice immediately — confident shops sold $159 dozens without pushback while $99 holdouts broke even.
- Holiday overtime usually pays for itself through doubled productivity; budget it into your forecast with a hard ceiling.
- Expect and build in surcharges; ask vendors for advance notice so surprises don't eat your margin.
- Compete on quality and service, not price — and regularly compare what you bought to what you sold.