Roses Only gears up for Christmas with expectations of rush for Australian wildflowers

One of Australia’s biggest online florists has already started ramping up for a busy Christmas season. And this year roses won’t be the pick of the bunch.

Roses Only CEO Kelly Taggart. Picture David Clark

WHEN you’re in the business of delivering love, Christmas is a busy time for leading online flower and gift delivery service Roses Only.

Chief executive Kelly Taggart said it tends to get hectic leading up to the big day with Australian wildflowers and natives the pick of the bunch.

“Christmas is a good time for delivering love and we have a busy month ahead of us,” she said.

“The last couple of weeks before Christmas is very hectic because a lot of the orders are last minute. Actually, I think it is two to three times busier than on a normal week.”

While Valentine’s Day has its roses and Mother’s Day’s pink flowers are the order of the day, at Christmas it’s all about Australia's long-lasting natives and wildflowers with gums, bottlebrushes and banksias.

“We have a very warm climate and Aussies love all things Australian and that's what they want to buy for Christmas,” Ms Taggart said.

“The beautiful thing about natives is that they’re quite seasonal. Throughout the different parts of the year you get different types. They also last longer and they’re perfect for drying as well and last even longer still.”

Bottlebrush flowers are popular over Christmas.

The national retailer has 10 sites across Australia and in Queensland it has three floral studios at Brisbane, Gold Coast and Sunshine Coast. The company has about 300 full-time and casual staff and about 100 different types of flowers and greenery in its range.

A mother of two Ms Taggart, 38, will spend her Christmas holidays in Coolangatta and described Roses Only – which annually deliver more than 10 million individual flowers around Australia – as a “beautiful business” creating happy memories.

She said a vital part of the business was its partnership with Macquarie Telecom’s cloud infrastructure and telecoms services.

Ms Taggart said it enabled Roses Only to accurately crunch data and forecast the availability of 100 flower and stem varieties, contributing to its industry leading waste percentage of less than two per cent.

“Our customers expect seamless experiences, whether they’re looking to change a delivery address halfway through a journey, or we need to communicate delays so no surprises are ruined,” she said.

“When order numbers doubled during lockdown, Macquarie helped us maintain this standard and prevent website downtime. Our own seamless experience with Macquarie’s local team m

meant we could also easily call them if any issues arose and have them fixed on the spot.”

Roses Only chief executive Kelly Taggart at their Kedron warehouse.

Ms Taggart said the successful service delivery during lockdown has since seen Roses Only achieve record levels of customer retention.

“The pandemic showed customers they can purchase, customise, and alter orders from the palm of their hand. It’s been great to see the amount of people already re-engaging our services this year, and we haven’t even hit the peak Christmas period,” she said.

Roses Only officially started in 1995 in Sydney by James Stevens whose family was selling flowers at since the 1960s. In 2014 it was bought out by a group headed by Jack Singleton and Anthony Rohde, owners of 1300 Flowers and Fast Flowers.

It later established the new style company’s headquarters in Brisbane.

Ms Taggart, who has been with the business for 15 years, said since the end of the pandemic the flower delivery sector has become more competitive but Roses Only will continue to seek growth.

“There has been a softening in demand from consumers and we have to work particularly hard for our orders,” she said.

“We’re looking for really good balanced growth. We’re looking at adding more brands and businesses to our mix, and the support from Macquarie is comforting in this respect.

“I’m not concerned that adding another website will be a house of cards. We’ve got the stability there to grow and scale.”

Solar ramp up

Leading global energy provider X-ELIO has launched its Blue Grass Solar Farm in Queensland’s Western Downs or rather “the energy capital of Queensland.

The 200MW solar farm – 14km from Chinchilla – is one of Queensland’s 50 large-scale renewable projects and will help support the State Government’s Renewable Energy Target to generate 80 per cent of its energy needs from renewable sources by 2035.

The farm is expected to deliver 420 GWh green energy annually, offsetting more than 320,000

tonnes of CO2 emissions and powering 80,000 home across the state. Four hundred local jobs were created during the solar farm’s two-year construction, with the project delivering a more than $200m investment.

Western Downs Mayor Paul McVeigh said the council was committed to working with

energy companies and developers.

“The region is proud to be widely recognised as the energy capital of Queensland,” he said.

“It’s very exciting to see the Blue Grass Solar Farm reaching this milestone, and we look forward to its future operation in the heart of our region further contributing to the exciting and rapidly expanding energy mix within the Western Downs.”

Western Downs Regional Council Mayor Paul McVeigh.

X-ELIO chief executive Lluis Noguera said Australia was a key strategic market for the company and the Blue Grass Solar Farm will spearhead its continued expansion along Australia’s East Coast, with additional projects planned for NSW and VIC.

The project’s construction and grid connection was supported by first-tier renewable and

transmission specialists, including Gransolar Group, Ingeteam and Powerlink.

It received financial backing from the Clean Energy Finance Corporation, ING, Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation, and has established long-term support from first-tier offtakers

Salesforce, Stanwell Corporation and Australia’s only 1.5 °C electricity retailer, ZEN Energy.

Star guest

LADY Jane Edwards AM will be the special guest at the Brisbane Business Hub’s ‘On the Couch’ session on Thursday.

The event on Level one an the Central Plaza Annex in the CBD is booked out to hear from the founder of BBS Communications Group.

Lady Jane catapulted to success during the ‘80s when she was appointed to lead the media strategy for Expo 88.

Sharing her thoughts as Brisbane faces another decade of culture-defining change in the lead up to the Brisbane 2032 Olympic and Paralympic Games, Lady Jane said: “The key to success will be drawing on the depth of planning and organisational talent we have in Brisbane and South East Queensland and ensuring we use the opportunity offered by the games to enrich the arts and cultural side of the city.”

Lady Jane Edwards is Brisbane Business hub’s special guest.

Brisbane Economic Development Agency chief executive Anthony Ryan Ryan said the Brisbane Business Hub continues to grow its offering, inviting some of the city’s greatest thinkers and innovators to tell their stories to the local business community.

“Trailblazers like Lady Jane Edwards have been instrumental in shaping Brisbane and developing the local industry,” he said.

“Through her endeavours, Lady Jane has paved the way for the thousands of communications professionals that now live and work in Brisbane. Now she has a wealth of knowledge to share, to prepare the next generation of leaders for the opportunities that lie ahead.”

Turnaround kings

A PAT on the back for the Deloitte Turnaround & Restructuring’ Partners for their work on the administration and sale of the Probuild, WBHO Infrastructure and Monaco Hickey Group of companies.

They have been named the winner of the Large Turnaround of the Year award by the Turnaround Management Association (TMA).

At the time of Sal Algeri, Jason Tracy, Matt Donnelly, and David Orr from Deloitte’s appointment as administrators in February the three companies were weighed down by some $617m of liabilities after their South African parent company withdrew financial support.

Underscoring the exceptional loss mitigation achieved within just eight months of appointment, the Deloitte team saved around 475 jobs; secured all employee entitlements; ensured continuity of approximately $2bn in active projects and pipeline; and achieved a full payout of small creditors such as subcontractors.

Deloitte Turnaround & Restructuring’ Partners Sal Algeri.

The major casualty in Brisbane was the Cbus Property’s apartment tower at 443 Queen St which is being finished off by Hutchies.

Mr Algeri said as administrators, their focus was always on the interests of creditors.

“However, we also recognised that as a scale player in the construction sector it was extremely important that Probuild be given the best possible opportunity to deliver projects,” he said.

“In a situation like this, you also only get one shot at saving the business by finding the right buyer, so early engagement with stakeholders and eventual novation of contracts to a new owner were all highly critical to the outcome.”

The Deloitte team’s successful turnaround of the Virgin Australia business was recognised in 2021 with the Restructuring Deal of the Year 2021 by the TMA in Australia, and International Company Turnaround/Transaction of the Year by the global TMA.