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Office location: St Dominick, Saltash

When was the business founded: 2019

How many employees: 13

Business Cornwall: How would you best describe the business?

Kernow Alstroemeria delivers premium Alstroemeria flowers direct from our glasshouse to your house. All flowers are hand picked and packaged to order. These Cornish flowers are great as a gift or can be purchased as a subscription. All our packaging is plastic free and from local suppliers, meaning your flowers don’t cost the world. Furthermore, all products come with complimentary next day delivery, UK wide of course, so anyone can have a little slice of Cornwall delivered to their door.

Business Cornwall: Why was the business founded?

Kernow Alstroemeria was born out of Lanoyce Nurseries, the UKs largest Alstroemeria grower whom supply national retailers and the UK wholesale market. For over 20 years Lanoyce has been supplying nearly 4 million stems annually to the market. In fact, the site has been owned and farmed by the same family for five generations. However, in the last 12 months we have felt that our premium product was being lost in the volume of current orders. Customers needed to know that a Cornish company can offer the very finest Alstroemeria stems, direct to their front door.

Business Cornwall: How does the business compare to competitors in the industry?

As a company we feel we can offer something quite different as we are a long-term family owned enterprise, specialising only in Alstroemeria flowers. With all our flowers grown on site we are in complete control of the product. Meaning we can hand select the best varieties and deal with any potential issues immediately. Furthermore, our site is heated in winter by a biomass boiler meaning we have a 52-week production cycle. Allowing us to produce flowers in significant volumes during winter – a period not traditionally known for flower producing in Cornwall outside of Daffodils.

Business Cornwall: What are the business’s plans both short-term and long-term?

Short-term plans for the business include continuing to grow the mail order flower side of our business to sustainable levels whilst also continuing to nurture and grow relationships with supermarkets and wholesalers. We are looking to build a high reputation for quality and customer service, a large amount of effort is currently being put into this as for so many years the company was hidden within the supply chain.

Long term Kernow Alstroemeria plans to maximise yield in all production areas whilst continuing to introduce the latest varieties to the UK marketplace. There are current trials of a cutting-edge LED lighting system being undertaken to maximise winter yield and quality levels. We take a large amount of pride that our Cornish, family owned business has been at the forefront of Alstroemeria production in the UK, this plans to continue.

Business Cornwall: How does the business define success?

For Kernow Alstroemeria, success is managed not only by sales levels and margin but also by sustainability. The company plans to make a continued investment in quality, an efficient business model, continuing to work hard to reduce carbon footprint. We are very much trying to drive our sales, delivering a flowery slice of Cornwall across the country but we want to make people rest assured; your flowers don’t cost the world either.

www.kernowalstroemeria.co.uk