Juggling big budget event work alongside the retail business is something some florists can relate to — and others wish they could. High-end event designer and retail florist Ian Prosser, AAF, AIFD, NDSF, PFCI, is tired of the juggle. The Scotland-born florist, whose clients have included the likes of Tom Cruise and the Backstreet Boys, is leaving retail to focus solely on event work.

"My job [now] is to be the face of Botanica and sell the parties," Prosser says.

Prosser opened Botanica International Florist in Tampa, Fla., in 1989, and added a second location, Botanica Boca Grande, in 2005. Event work steadily grew and comprised about 60 percent of total sales.

Prosser says it became difficult to run the retail flower shop and address the demands of the labor and time-intensive event work — which, for him, is both a labor of love and profits.

"There's a lot of money to be made in it," he says. "With an event, there's no speculation. When the product comes in the door, it's sold — that's the wonderful advantage to it."

Prosser bought a new space (formerly an art gallery) for Botanica International Design Studio in Tampa, which opened its doors on Nov. 19, where he and his design team create events and see clients, by appointment, on Tuesdays and Thursdays. Just last weekend, Prosser did the event design for the wedding of pop singer Howie Dorough from the Backstreet Boys, and the celebrity news reporters and photographers were there to capture every moment of it. In fact, Prosser's designs from the wedding were featured on Monday's edition of Entertainment Tonight and will be in next week's issue of OK! Magazine.

Doing celebrity events isn't anything new for Prosser. He has done high-end design work for celebrities such as Tom Cruise (three days of parties, leading up to his birthday celebration), and he led SAF's Inauguration Floral Design Team that did the floral décor for George W. Bush's 2001 presidential inauguration. 

Prosser says he wins high-profile events because his team is well educated in floral design and knows how to apply trends to event design. "We just offer something different from everyone else," he says. "We tend to be ahead of the curve."

Prosser says 30 percent in event sales is about as high as a retail florist can handle, without having to rethink his or her business model. Controlling cost of goods is key, however, "The cost of goods has to be absolutely, perfectly in place. Your cost of goods should be no more than 20 percent."

--Cassandra P. Foster
cfoster@safnow.org

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