Herb Plugs Articles & Resources

Meanwhile, a family business relationship with Vans Floral Products in Chicago unexpectedly brought love and marriage into the equation. Rick met Joyce Van Namen, whose parents also were Dutch immigrants in the cut flower and floral products business, when his family began delivering potted plants to hers. "It wasn't planned at all, but that's what happened, so I moved to Michigan!" Joyce laughs.

The two were married in July 1981, and a few months later became business partners.

Established with 60,000 square feet, Glass Corner Greenhouse today spans 450,000 square feet of greenhouses at two locations, with equal space in outdoor growing area. The operation has expanded nearly every year since its inception, with more plans to grow next year.

A Diversified Business

Glass Corner Greenhouse does business in two divisions: young plants for the grower market and finished crops for retail. A little over half the operation's sales are made up from selling plugs and liners, and on the finished side, 70 percent of its crops are sold to home improvement giant Lowe's and about 30 percent are dedicated to independent garden centers.

Glass Corner Greenhouse is one of a few growers supplying independents with plants in the exclusive Scotts Miracle-Gro Nursery Select program. Nursery Select encompasses a line of upscale plant items in shrink-wrapped, quart-sized pots and larger, to help independents differentiate their businesses. Scotts Miracle-Gro also is piloting another similar program for hardware stores that want to sell plants, which Glass Corner also supplies. Joyce points out, though, that the two programs are very different in that the hardware stores sell only 4-inch annual, vegetable and herb plants in green and yellow pots.

With continuously growing demand, it seems there is always a need to buy in product from local growers Glass Corner has contracted with each spring for the past 10 to 12 years. Part of Glass Corner's production team scouts the contract-grown crops every week to monitor any challenges and check for readiness.

Glass Corner Greenhouse also grows finished poinsettias for the grocery store chain Albertson's and wholesale florist outlets, last year selling 300,000 of the popular potted plant. Like any grower trying to keep margins up and defray costs, Rick says, Glass Corner is always looking for new programs and this year began selling poinsettia liners for the wholesale market. He says he is pleased with the orders received in this first year and hopes to grow the business in the future.

In the summer, Glass Corner sells between 35 to 40 million pansy plugs to Southern growers for the fall market. Rick says the season has really become substantial for the business. A new program this year is Glass Corner's Cool Crops offering, which includes young plants of cyclamen, cineraria and calceolaria for the wholesale grower market.

A licensed rooting station for GoldFisch (Fischer) and Bodger Botanicals, Glass Corner Greenhouse also has established relationships with several breeders over the years to fill its Glass Corner Collection. The goal, Rick says, is to diversify Glass Corner's crop offerings by bringing in nonpatented genetics. That way, Glass Corner can essentially become a onestop shop for young plants. Altogether in the young plant program, Glass Corner Greenhouse offers 630 vegetative varieties this year. "The intent was to fill in with items that aren't in patented programs, like GoldFisch, so growers can pretty much get any vegetative annual they need and put it on one order, one shipment," Rick says. "It helps us supplement the main programs and gives us a more wellrounded program."

Tools For Success

The expansive trial gardens at Glass Corner Greenhouse have turned out to be not only an attraction, but a fantastic sales tool, as well, Joyce says. With more than 200 combination planters, 200 hanging baskets, 450 varieties in landscaped garden beds and close to 200 large pots, the gardens have become a showcase for both performance and container recipes. "We plant up all of the varieties that we have in our young plants program, so growers and brokers can come and see how they perform, and we're also watching the garden to decide what varieties we want to grow in our finished program," she says.

In addition, the gardens have become a living catalog for brokers to show their clients, and it's often that orders are written as they are walking through.

Last year Glass Corner Greenhouse joined the Michigan Grower Tour for the first time (see page 148) and hosted more than 800 visitors, primarily from the Midwest. But many people from around the country and all over the world make Glass Corner part of their loop of places to visit following the OFA Short Course in July, Joyce says.

Another invaluable bonus has been Glass Corner's online, real-time availabilities through the PICAS system by Innovative Software Solutions (ISS, see page 120). Glass Corner was onboard from the beginning as a beta tester, helping ISS tweak the software and customize it to the operation's needs.

The result has been better order efficiency and procurement due to quick information turnaround, which has translated to increased sales. "The key to our young plants business is salespeople," Rick says. "They need fast, easy access to information, and they want to know what you have and be able to book it, especially for spot orders. They're of course going to gravitate to the companies that have good, accurate, easy information, and away from those that are difficult. So we need to be easy to do business with."

Team Glass Corner

An employer of 80 people yearround and up to 180 in peak seasons, Glass Corner values its team atmosphere and Rick and Joyce recognize the tremendous assets they have in their team members.

"There's no way we could do this without them and we rely heavily on their expertise and advice," Joyce says. "We're always trying to find new, better ways to do things more efficiently and ultimately, we want to be known as the company our customers can rely on to get the best quality and the best service. That's really important to us and those values really permeate through the whole company."

Key players include: Mike Weesies and Brian Fernandez in production; in operations, Danny Melville, Ernesto Gomez and Albertano Hernandez; Niles Riese in sales and marketing and Mary Host in broker sales and young plant procurement; Julie Zylstra in customer service and administration; Jameson Dick in finance and information technology; and Dan Fitzpatrick in new construction and maintenance.

With the exception of Riese, who came on board a year and a half ago, most of the key managers have been at Glass Corner for 10 to 23 years, Rick says, and all take pride and ownership not only in their areas of responsibility, but also in the business as a whole. "They are the biggest asset this company has, and it's vital for them to really Ltreat it like it's their own," Rick says. ?

Looking toward the future, Rick says at this point it doesn't look like any of the Masts three children, Justin, Meredith and Elliott, will make a career of the family business, but that's okay. "Joyce and I have really encouraged the kids to find an occupation that they have a passion for," Rick says. "We haven't really pushed them to come to work here, but we haven't pushed them away."

The world is big and full of too many exciting opportunities that they want their children to experience, Joyce adds. "We both come from family businesses and it can be a real blessing and it can also be the other way," she says. "If the kids come back and say, "This is where we want to be/ then we'll sit down and talk. But just because they have the same last name doesn't mean that this is where they should be. Even our industry is so global that it's not just Michigan, it's not just the United States, it's the world, and we're really promoting that, even in our own family."

That's not to say that the Masts aren't happy to be part of the floriculture industry. Nothing could be further from the truth. "Rick and I feel very blessed by our business and yes, we work hard but the rewards are there," Joyce explains. "It's not always easy. Things come along that are out of our control, but you just keep going forward and with our faith, we keep looking up and onward and say, Okay, we can handle this/ and keep going.

"It's a remarkable industry and there are so many opportunities out there for us. Whether it's a time of recession or a time of prosperity, people want to plant. People want flowers. So it's an exciting time because if you step outside the box and do things in a different way, people really embrace that."

Despite the immense challenges of the past few years, the Masts say their faith and the support of the industry and their company has kept them strong and they look forward to more possibilities for their business. "It's really rewarding to try new ideas and watch them succeed," Rick says. "We've worked really hard, we have a lot of really great people here, but we also feel that God has blessed our efforts and we're very grateful for that."

by LAURA DROTLEFF

Managing Editor

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