Melbourne’s Fig & Bloom rakes in $14m after owner bets house deposit on the business

A Melbourne woman who started off operating her business from the boot of her car after losing her job now sells over 90,000 items a year.

When Kellie Brown was made redundant from her fashion designer job, little did she know a business she started in just two weeks from her Melbourne garage would turn into a $14 million empire.

Working in fashion was a dream career for Ms Brown but once she got the “top job” she discovered a “toxic workplace” so wasn’t too upset when she bowed out in 2015.

It was then her friends urged her to ditch the 9 to 5 grind and tap into her entrepreneurial spirit.

The Melbourne woman had been a keen hustler since she was young girl – setting up shop in the playground or her bedroom to sell old toys and clothes to a “captive audience”, including her friends and sisters, at a high price point.

So she decided to combine her love of fashion with flowers and create Fig & Bloom.

“I thought flowers as an industry was just so daggy and never changed whether it was 2015 or 1999. You could have $100 in your pocket and no matter where you went it would still look the same. It was still wrapped in pink cellophane or if you were lucky brown paper with a nice ribbon,” she told news.com.au.

“Then subscription businesses were trending at the time and I thought that was a perishable good that people need on a regular basis.”

Kellie Brown started her business in her Melbourne garage and from her car boot. Picture: Supplied

She took a gamble and used around $10,000 in savings that was meant to be for a house deposit to start the business.

In the first year, Ms Brown largely operated from the boot of her car, driving to the flower market, wrapping up the florals and then delivering around 4000 floral arrangements to Melbourne residents.

Instagram helped to fuel demand as Ms Brown used her fashion background to create designer bouquets, while she expanded out of the subscription model as well.

Part of her strategy was allowing customers to experience the full bud to bloom experience, adding that she loves the “fleeting beauty” of flowers.

“I love that concept of from bud to bloom – that’s always been something that’s always been important to me as a flower buyer. I didn’t want to the flowers to just sit there, I wanted people to see them bloom and develop their colour and their fragrance,” she explained.

“Even as they slowly started to hit their expiry date they are just so beautiful for all those phases whereas if you went into a flower shop you could be buying two week old flowers.

“Like (recently) I was at a friend’s place and he said we did our collect and collect and they just gave us these flowers. I said they are actually already four weeks old. So I love being able to exceed customers expectations with longevity.”

There are four styles that the bouquets generally follow. Picture: Supplied

The coral peonies lover can boast training with Queen Elizabeth II’s principal florist in New York City too, which she said was an incredible experience.

It helped her to develop Fig & Bloom’s offering based on designs in four different themes.

There’s pretty and pink, the rustic, the contemporary white and the bright and colourful.

“If people are not sure what to buy we ask them to tell us about a recipient. If they are feminine, girly and love the Alannah Hill aesthetic then pretty and pink is for them,” she explained. “Contemporary white is like the pared back, bolder whites and green shapes and its more of structured and architecturally designed bouquet, rather than being bitsy.

“Rustic is for the Country Road shoppers or shoppers who purchase on Etsy and love those small handmade things, while bright and colourful is if they love brands like Gorman.”

One of the biggest sellers is the Osaka design. Inspired by Japan’s annual Cherry Blossom festival, it features soft pink colours paired with delicate white puffs. Subject to seasonal and market availability, the design includes roses, chrysanthemum disbuds and gypsophila.

Since she started, Ms Brown said the overall flower industry has gone from being “very dated, daggy and unsophisticated” to a more contemporary, fashionable way of gifting and sending a message of love and connection.

The pretty and feminine is a popular style. Picture: Supplied

They now deliver 93,000 bouquets on the East Coast. Picture: Supplied

It’s a trend that has been seen in the past 18 months with Fig & Bloom booming during the pandemic, quadrupling overnight in March 2020, as the country went into lockdown and people sought to connect with family and friends through gifts.

It now operates as a team of 48, with two physical stores in Melbourne and Sydney and has just launched in Brisbane, delivering to more than 900 locations across the East Coast.

The team are now selling up to 93,000 bouquets every year and working with brands such as Ferrari, Lexus, L'Oreal and personalities such as Elton John, where they decked out his green room with flowers for his Australian stadium tour.

She trained with the florist to the Queen. Picture: Supplied

The business is now on track to earn $14 million in revenue this financial year.

“By the end of next year we want to be a national brand and we will be guided by our own ambition and the ambitions of our team,” she said.

“I have a junior assistant, who is doing an after school job, and she is wanting to open in London … I said if that’s what you want you can aim to be our CFO in London and she’s like really? She’s thrilled. I’m excited to give opportunities to the team and see how far they can go.”

When it comes to flower trends, Ms Brown predicted dried arrangements are going to continue to be a big among consumers as well as mixing textures with florals, such as different materials or fabric.

Originally published as Melbourne’s Fig & Bloom rakes in $14m after owner bets house deposit on the business