Petal and Post Pty Ltd
What does your company do?
Early each morning (probably before you are out of bed) we are out and about sourcing the freshest seasonal flowers from local farms around Cape Town, Johannesburg and Durban. We create one style of posy (bouquet) each weekday, and then deliver to suburbs around Cape Town, Durban and Johannesburg for a flat rate of R360 for a regular size (our Single Posy). You can choose to upsize to a Double Posy (double the size) or a Luxe Posy (4 times the size) or pop your Posy into a vase. By 7am, the posy is up on our website (www.petalandpost.co.za), Instagram account (@petalandpostsouthafrica), and Facebook for you to see as your day begins. We take orders for same day delivery until 2pm, and then our delivery team delivers them to their lucky recipients in the afternoon. If we are sold out on the day, don’t worry: just pre-order to secure your posy for any day in the future. We also offer a beautiful range of gift sets that are curated using only local products sourced from small businesses.
What is your biggest success?
I took the leap to quit my job (a secure career in Urban Planner) in 2019 after 2 years of running Petal&Post part time on a shoe string. The decision came after being invited into a business accelerator at UCT Graduate School of Business - a full time program that opened some good networking doors in the flower industry. Covid hit exactly 1 year after quitting my job, and although the business had shown some growth up to that point, it definitely wasn’t in a stable place. This turned around overnight in the month of May 2020. We were granted a permit to operate the week before Mother’s Day 2020, and the orders that came in that week were incredible: families were separated and we were able to deliver our Posies to moms all over Cape Town. The business grew by 75% that year and we opened branches in both Joburg and Durban. In 2021, during another year of lockdowns it grew by another 55%. We built a secure customer base over Covid that continues to grow. We’ve moved from a Covid startup to a well known and loved brand.
What has been your biggest hurdle?
Being a solo entrepreneur and 100% shareholder is tough. Although I love my job and I have a wonderful, supportive team, I often dream of having a business partner - someone who I can share the weight of the responsibility with. This last year (2023) I became a first time mom. Before I had my daughter I always joked that Petal&Post was my first child. Thoughts of having maternity leave last year disappeared fast when my daughter was only 14 days old and it was Mother’s Day (our biggest day of the year for sales) and I needed to jump into operations and supplier management. While pregnant I joined an entrepreneur program for medium sized businesses and was taken aback by how few women entrepreneurs who are also mothers in the industry. It’s difficult to find a role model /mentor who understands the daily juggle. It’s a hurdle that I haven’t yet figured out. I hope to one day offer my own mentorship/guidance to ambitious female business-owner-mothers.
