Flowers for Dreams sells locally crafted flowers in Chicago, Milwaukee, Detroit and, now, Minneapolis.
Minnesotans are constantly looking for ways to support their local communities. It turns out all you need for one solution is to head to a coffee shop and purchase a bouquet of flowers.
This is the proposal offered by Flowers for Dreams, a “socially conscious flower service” donating a portion of sales of its locally sourced flower arrangements to area charities.
Since debuting, Flowers for Dreams has donated over $1 million to charity with its “every bouquet benefits a local charity” model. The mission-driven retailer continues to expand, recently rolling out in Minneapolis in partnership with Spyhouse Coffee. Bouquets are available to Twin Cities area residents through online orders or at Spyhouse’s Northeast location.
We talked with CEO/founder Steven Dyme about the unique business model, the Twin Cities launch and what’s next.
Q. What does “socially conscious flower service” mean?
This is the proposal offered by Flowers for Dreams, a “socially conscious flower service” donating a portion of sales of its locally sourced flower arrangements to area charities.
Since debuting, Flowers for Dreams has donated over $1 million to charity with its “every bouquet benefits a local charity” model. The mission-driven retailer continues to expand, recently rolling out in Minneapolis in partnership with Spyhouse Coffee. Bouquets are available to Twin Cities area residents through online orders or at Spyhouse’s Northeast location.
We talked with CEO/founder Steven Dyme about the unique business model, the Twin Cities launch and what’s next.
Q. What does “socially conscious flower service” mean?
A. Our mission is really to use flowers to advance causes of justice and charity and the communities we serve. So for us, we give a quarter of our profits to local charities.
We are also really focused on sourcing locally, ethically and sustainably. So we have a few certifications we require when we’re sourcing. Most of our sourcing is done direct. So, for example, in the Midwest, we’re buying flowers from about 25 to 30 different local [farmers and florists]. They’re usually small mom-and-pop flower farms.
Q. How did the idea for Flowers for Dreams come about?
A. When I was 19 as a freshman in college, I was looking for ways to make money to pay for school at the University of Wisconsin.
Source: ‘Socially conscious flower service’ teams with Spyhouse to help Twin Cities charities