5 ms·
I don't know about the restaurant business, but I've been told by people in the flower trade that the long-stemmed rose business right before Feb. 14 is full of
by GCA10 9y ago
I don't know about the restaurant business, but I've been told by people in the flower trade that the long-stemmed rose business right before Feb. 14 is full of antics, deceptions, broken promises, dummy orders, etc. that are absolutely terrifying if you're new to the game.
So much money to be made so fast. It tends to attract . . . operators.
- dpflan 9y agoDo you know of good sources, articles, documentaries, etc exploring this or these events that attract “operators”?
- patrickyeon 9y agoNPR's Planet Money did an episode on the Valentine's Day rose craziness. I don't recall it being about particularly offside tactics, but it's from three years ago. https://www.npr.org/sections/money/2015/02/13/386005044/episode-603-a-rose-on-any-other-day https://www.npr.org/sections/money/2015/02/13/386005044/epis...
- GCA10 9y agoIt would make for a fine bit of investigative reporting. Wish I had an article to recommend. My source is a medium prominent tech executive who tried to disrupt the Valentine's Day flower business (with its high mark-ups). His plan was to set up his own, lower-priced regional alternative -- which would bring in planeloads of flowers from Central America, right on time. Things did not work out the way he had hoped. Everything went sideways the first year. He tried again, and the second year was catastrophically worse. There was no third year.
- thomasz 9y agoThat's why you should always have a domain expert on board when trying to enter a business you deem ripe for disruption. Chances are very high that you do not completely understand it.
- ggg9990 9y agoSuccessful person overestimates his own abilities and underestimated those of his rivals.