Jordan Wach (left), Hannah Brannan of Gather Flora (center), and Jessica Hole of Sonoma Flower Mart (right), photographed in 2020 on the Sonoma Flower Mart truck, preparing to deliver flowers pre-ordered on the Gather Flora platform
Today, we have two guests who will bring us up to speed on some exciting floral news happening in and around the Bay Area. As many listeners may recall, there was considerable disruption in the floral marketplace last year with COVID and yet so many flower farmers and florists prevailed, pivoted and innovated as they figured out how to get local, seasonal and sustainably-grown blooms into the hands of consumers.
Now, with 2021, the pressure comes not from a pandemic but from a vulnerable global supply chain, and here's where my first guest enters. Please meet Hannah Brannan, a software engineer and founder of Gather Flora, a web platform that connects farmers and florists to facilitate convenient and improved local flower sales.
Hannah's love of flowers traces back to a childhood, playing barefoot in her grandmother’s magical garden in Texas. In 2014, Hannah moved to California, home to 80% of U.S. domestic floral production, where she rekindled her childhood enchantment in flowers.
Hannah has spent the past several growing seasons embedded in Northern California's floral community. Last year, she ran the sales platform for the Sonoma Flower Mart (with 8 farms and 44 weekly active users) and volunteered on the Board of the Sacramento Valley Flower Collective, all while beta testing gatherflora.com .
Hannah Brannan, founder of Gather Flora, loving on some code and software testing specs
As Hannah recently wrote: The most inspiring, locally grown flowers that make it to flower shops today are produced by small and medium-sized, mission-driven, dedicated growers and brought to us by wildly dedicated local florists. However, the time, energy, and multiple rounds of back-and-forth communication aren’t always feasible for busy, hard-working florists. I learned that the sentiment of being overstretched resounded from farmers and florists alike and it was clear that there was a need to apply technology in a thoughtful way to alleviate these challenges. Ultimately, I found that I could best serve the community by merging flowers and software and the result is Gather Flora
Carlos Pavon, on Team Gather Flora, helping to set up the flower stall for Day 1 Gather Flora at the San Francisco Flower Mart
You'll hear about Hannah's path to flowers from software coding and engineering to volunteering in a flower shop and on flower farms. It all comes together in her newes chapter -- running the Gather Flora Flower Stall at the San Francisco Flower Mart.
Studio Mondine's first order on Gather Flora to fundraise for the AAPI community (left); Setting up for Gather Flora's Day One at the SFFM 2021 (right)
To finance the Flower Stall launch, Gather Flora created a Kickstarter Campaign to raise $13,500 needed funds. As of last week, the campaign had met and exceeded its goal at $15,588 and counting. You'll hear Hannah discuss more in our episode -- please join me in wishing this young collective endeavor a huge success. I think the main insight here is that while buying flowers online is very convenient, there are still times when florists want to use their senses and shop in person. Now Gather Flora has a hybrid way to connect farms and florists in the Bay Area.
More resources from and about Gather Flora:
CA-based florists and wholesalers sign up for pre-orders here. Gather Flora+ Max Gill Master's Workshop Scholarship Application hereIn 2021, we are looking to expand our network to 50 CA flower growers. If you are an interested, CA-based grower, please apply hereFor all non-CA-based growers (US and international) who are interested in receiving future updates about Gather Flora regional expansion click here.Follow: @gatherflora (IG) and Gather Flora (Facebook)