Covid presents growing opportunity
A flourishing chrysanthemum hothouse nursery whose market has opened up substantially as a result of industry changes brought about by the Covid-19 lockdown is for sale.
GAIT Flowers Nursery in Kerepe¯hi in the Hauraki Plains produces 15 varieties of chrysanthemum in yellow, white, pink/mauve, red and green.
While the nursery’s activities were stymied during level 4 lockdown at the end of March and early April, production resumed quickly under level 3 when the business began resupplying thousands of blooms, ultimately sold through the supermarket chains.
The nursery sends freshly-picked flowers three times a week to its Auckland wholesaler, Fresh Direct, which says it will buy as many stems as GAIT Flowers can produce.
Chrysanthemums are used by wholesale and retail florists to bulk out floral arrangements around more higher-value blooms such as roses, tulips and lilies. When demand for more expensive stems fell off during level 4 and level 3 lockdowns, a number of rose, lily and tulip growers pulled out their flower plantings and reseeded hothouse beds with fruit and vege crops.
The resulting drop-off in supply meant more chrysanthemums were required to flesh out bouquets — a demand which positioned GAIT Flowers Nursery to ramp up its production.
Realising the nursery is wellpositioned for the future, its retiring owners have placed the going concern business, freehold land, and hothouse growing and packing buildings at 346 Reservoir Canal Rd on the market by negotiation through Bayleys Hamilton.
Salesman Josh Smith said that while Covid-19 level 4 lockdown had been a testing period for GAIT Flowers Nursery — as it had been for many Kiwi businesses — the resulting retail circumstances had been totally unexpected yet incredibly positive for the nursery.
“The business has in fact become more robust as a result of what happened to the New Zealand economy over the March to May period — and there is the potential now for increased stem sales,” Smith said.
“Chrysanthemums can be grown all year round. They can be grown from clippings, not seeds, so there is an instantaneous planting process,” said Smith.
“GAIT’s access to supermarkets through its wholesale supply contract has ensured consumer demand for its harvests has remained intact. Being totally domestic end-buyer focused also means the nursery has not been effected by the impact of international supply chain breakdowns as a result of Covid-19 trading restrictions.”
The business’ temperature, humidity, and light-controlled greenhouse and shedding infrastructure at Kerepe¯hi consists of a pair of three-bay greenhouses, one two-bay greenhouse, two propagation houses, a three-bay implement shed and skyline garage.
Combined, the Kerepe¯hi greenhouses encompass about
4214sq m of covered growing space on
2ha of flat land surrounded on three sides by dairy farms.
“Two converted shipping containers provide storage facilities for the cut stems before they are sent to market. The business chattels include a 161sq m open-plan four-bedroom owner/manager’s residence with adjoining staff offices and lunchroom facilities,” Smith said.
“The nursery currently draws on council-supplied water for its irrigation. There is provision on the property for installing a ‘green’ water supply system that could use water collected off the hothouse rooftops and diverted into holding tanks — with an area between the sheds kept aside specifically for this potential.
“Heating within hothouses is run throughout the colder months by waste oil burners. Productivity has been increased yearon-year by . . . underfloor heating placed under the propagation trays where the seedlings bloom.”
In summer, the hothouse rooftops and sides are opened up to natural warmth. Nutrients are supplied to the plants and soil via the automated watering system.
GAIT Flowers Nursery employs seven part-time staff and two students on weekends — equating to four full-time staff, and the two owner/managers working in the dayto-day running of the business equating to about 10 hours a week.
“The hothouse buildings occupy about 50 per cent of the land. There is an opportunity for any new owner to expand the number of hothouses within the current boundary,” Smith said.
In the completed 2018/2019 production year running from June to May, the nursery harvested 464,251 stems — nearly 43 per cent more than for the 2015/16 growing year.