Ed Koornneef, Jake Koornneef, and Randy Gilde
of Delray Plants
Photo by Johnathan Lonsdale

While many Florida nurseries are struggling to stay solvent, sales are soaring at Delray Plants. The nursery achieved a record-breaking week in sales in mid-March, shipping out 202 semi-loads of tropical ornamentals. Delray Plants attributes its success to several factors.

“It’s due to our sales staff, our logistics and shipping team, and our growing and production staff’s ability to have the product available when it is needed,” says Randy Gilde, who co-owns Delray Plants with his father-in-law Jake Koornneef and brother-in-law Ed Koornneef. ”We have a strong partnership with our customers, because of our ability to provide great service and the right product at the right time. We are able to consolidate, load, and deliver more volume than most in the industry.”

Ann Thompson, who has worked for Delray Plants for more than 30 years and presently serves as office manager, says that another factor contributing to the nursery’s surge in sales is that people are staying home more in this economy, and plants are a simple, inexpensive way to enjoy your home more.

Ongoing Growth

The nursery began on 14 acres in Delray Beach in 1968. Jake Koornneef grew weary of farming flowers and vegetables in cold environments with high heating bills. He moved to Florida, via Canada from Holland, for the warmer climate and fell in love with growing tropicals.

Today, the nursery has four locations in Florida as well as two sites in Costa Rica that produce cuttings, making it one of the largest production and shipping facilities for indoor tropical foliage in the U.S. To meet customer demand, 600,000 square feet have been added to the Venus location within the past year, and an additional 2 million square feet of newly leased space in Zolfo Springs includes 50 acres in production. The packinghouse area expanded this year by 50,000 square feet for a total space of 200,000 square feet in six separate packinghouses. One hundred employees have been added to the company within the past 18 months.

Fewer, Bigger, Better

Ed Koornneef designed and built 31 shine
machines that Delray Plants uses to automate
the cleaning and processing of plants
prior to shipping.
Photo by Tacy Callies

“We began preparing ourselves for ‘fewer, bigger, and better’ by diversifying our product lines, growing what sells, and making adjustments to meet the never-ending challenges of logistics,” says Gilde. “We’ve become more interactive and hands-on inside the stores, which helps us manage and service them better.”

According to Gilde, information technology (IT) is necessary for doing business with big boxes and it is one of Delray Plants’ biggest strengths.

“We have invested heavily in our IT area with emphasis on financial analysis and reporting, logistics, and sales support,” he says. “You need to know your numbers because margins are so tight.”

Another way Delray Plants has been able to better meet marketplace demand is by becoming a “super supplier” through relationships with approximately 70 vendor partners. These partners — primarily Florida nurseries from key growing regions like Homestead, Apopka, and Tampa — allow Delray Plants to offer a wider array of plants to its customers.

Delray Plants currently buys about 20% of the material it sells. Of that amount, roughly 75% of it is ready to sell, while the remainder must first be grown to saleable size. The nursery provides hundreds of different items to their customers throughout the year.

“Delray has been a creative and dependable supplier for many years,” says Gary Mangum of Bell Nursery USA. “It pays attention to what the consumer wants, and I’m sure helps to develop trends as a result.”

Certifiably Sustainable

Video

Click here for a short video on honing hydrangea health from Delray Plants' Bill Lewis.

Earning the certification took about four months and cost the nursery less than $10,000, which included fees paid to an outside company called Visions Group that helped facilitate the paperwork.

“We did have to stop using a few chemicals, but they were very low-use chemicals and were easy to replace,” Gilde says. “Other than that, the transition was seamless. We never looked at it as a tool to make us more profitable, but wanted the public/consumer to know that we are sustainable and that we use best practices in environmental stewardship, social responsibility, and product quality.”

Some of the best management practices Delray Plants employs to achieve sustainability include:
• Use of predator mites in place
of chemicals
• Use of irrigation clocks and solenoids (electric valves)
• Time-released fertilizer custom blended for specific crops
• Replacement of recyclable winter poly every two years instead of annually
• An on-site ecological system that includes ponds that support wildlife and capture runoff.

What Lies Ahead

“We are constantly looking for new products and diversifying into new product lines that are of value to the customer and to please the consumer,” says Gilde. “We will continue to diversify and will expand as needed based on sales and profitability.”

Bonus Photos!

Click here to see a slideshow of more photos from Delray Plants.