LDC Top 50 2019

Aron Gelbard is a man on a mission: “to make sending and receiving flowers the joy it should be”. His letterbox flower delivery firm, Bloom & Wild, has achieved extraordinary growth since inception six years ago, and is now on course to deliver 2m boxes of flowers and plants this year.

Aron admits that launching the venture was daunting: “My father was an entrepreneur and had his ups and downs so I knew it wouldn’t be plain sailing.” However, the opportunity to shake up a staid industry was too good to pass up. He’s raised £22m of growth capital to fuel international expansion, and plans to create the market leader in Europe.

Q&A

What’s your personal ambition?

I want to build the leading and most loved flower gifting company in the world. We’re already in France, Germany and Ireland so we’ve started on that journey. Financial success for me and our other shareholders is the reward, not the ambition.

Where is future growth coming from?

We are growing internationally and have just launched our wholesale channel – you can buy our flowers on Ocado – which is growing nicely. We’ll do 2m deliveries this year. Another big thing we’re doing is making our packaging eco friendly. We’re trialling biodegradable netting to protect the flower heads, and using craft paper instead of cellophane. This, alongside all our collaborations with brands and artists should keep Bloom & Wild exciting for customers.

How important has your team been in achieving your ambition?

We are nearly 100 people now, but I still know every single person. The team is committed, works hard and really cares about the brand. Last Valentine’s Day, we used local couriers to deliver our flowers and some of the drivers didn’t turn up so members of the team packed taxis with boxes and spent the day delivering them, so no customer missed out. Their willingness to help, and their ability to come together to achieve what we need to, is amazing.