Flowers vehicle for emotion
‘‘We don’t deal in flowers, we deal in emotion.’’
It was a heartfelt and emotional message delivered to about 300 people at the MatamataPiako business awards by Forget Me Not Florist owner/operator Debbie Nowell.
‘‘Every single bouquet we send out, we wrap with love,’’ Nowell said.
‘‘Because we know they can’t be there to be with family or to send the emotion they want to send.’’
Nowell operates Forget Me Not with florist Nicole Portner and Merv Tarrant who does deliveries.
On Thursday, they accepted the Matamata, Gull Customer Service Award, recognising their efforts serving the community for almost a decade.
‘‘I just want to thank you so much, we work really hard and we are a really small business and we just love your support,’’ Nowell said to the event guests, inside the Matamata Civic and Memorial Centre.
The business began operating nine years ago but it was the first time Forget Me Not had been nominated for a business award.
‘‘We are so touched and honoured, to win was beyond our wildest dreams,’’ says Nowell.
‘‘We take the time with our customers to give them the extra mile. Everyone is really special to us because we are conveying emotion, flowers are a vehicle for the emotion.
‘‘So to have have we do realised and acknowledged is just amazing.’’
Nowell says she was very calm in the lead up to the Gull Cus- tomer Service winner announcement, and admitted she didn’t expect they would win.
‘‘We were up against some amazing other businesses, and I’d like to say congratulations to them for being finalists.
‘‘We didn’t expect anything. It was very surreal and I was shaking like a leaf in shock. I’m just overwhelmed with emotion and gratitude.’’
Guest speaker at the awards event, Theresa Gattung, the former CEO of Telecom and cofounder of My Food Bag, made special mention of Nowell’s acceptance speech, noting the phrase, ‘‘we don’t deal in flowers, we deal in emotion’’.