Flowers in short supply cause prices to skyrocket

ROTHSCHILD, Wis. (WSAW) - Consequences of the pandemic continue to linger over floral companies. With a high demand for flowers and a lack of supply, they were forced to raise prices.

“The labor shortages and the transportation, those are the two things that have spiked prices up 40 plus percent in some areas,” said Travis Yanagida, Mass Market Account Manager for Krueger Wholesale Florist Incorporated.

The beginning of the pandemic caused growers to cut back between 15 and 40% of their planting because they didn’t have enough employees to tend to the flowers during the shutdown. Even as people began to return to work, not all employees did, which is causing a longstanding impact on local floral businesses.

Krueger Wholesale Florist Incorporated was faced with many problems, but they rose to the occasion and took on the challenges one thorn at a time.

One challenge was dealing with providing for large events with a short supply of some varieties. Weddings usually require a lot of flowers. Weddings that were postponed due to the pandemic are happening now in addition to the ones that were actually planned for this year. A popular request for weddings is white flowers, which unfortunately are in short supply.

“White carnations, white roses. Those are the two probably biggest ones that we’re like ‘those things are always available, but they weren’t,” said Yanagida.

Certain plants and flowers may be more resistant to weather changes, but some just can’t handle it. The weather in the states that supply flowers to Kruger was not cooperating on top of the other issues.

Much of Kruegers’ flowers come from California and the overcast days and wildfires have impacted production. They also get flowers from South America.

“South America saw a lot of rainy and overcast days which slowed down flower production when we really needed it the most,” said Yanagida.

Sadly, high-demand flowers come at a high price.