January is a great time to evaluate your cleaning program. As you wind
down from the busy holiday season, you have extra time to go around and
clear out those cobwebs or get the grime that you couldn’t reach in
between corporate gift orders and Christmas centrepieces. Working clean
will also ensure that you’re fully prepared to deliver long-lasting,
healthy blooms to your customers by the time Valentine’s Day rolls
around. This means not only your working space, but your tools and your
selling space. Delivering your customers a spic and span environment
sends a huge message to consumers about your company’s attention to
quality and detail.
Where to start?
Develop daily, weekly, monthly and quarterly cleaning protocols. It may
sound overwhelming at first, but once everyone’s on the same page,
sanitation becomes second nature. Hang this phrase in the back room:
“If you wouldn’t drink it or out of it, neither will your flowers!”
Bacteria are a major reason flowers suffer bent necks. Germs
effectively clog the pipes inside stems (vascular system) that pull
water and nutrients into blooms against the flow of gravity. The pull
is a function of turgor pressure in plant cells. The stems’ plumbing
system must be wide open to work efficiently at keeping leaves and
blooms turgid. Reducing bacteria, fungi, yeasts and organic material
through cleaning and sanitizing efforts ensures flowers stand tall in
the vase.
Keep it simple
Place spray bottles filled with ready-to-use cleaner solution at each
workstation and at processing tables. Spray the work surfaces
frequently throughout the workday. Sanitize buckets before filling with
fresh solution. Dump the cleaner solution into trash cans after you’re
finished with buckets – swish and soak to kill germs in the trash cans,
too. Dip brooms into this cleaner to kill airborne fungal spores
(Botrytis) that want to fly onto surfaces when floors are swept.
Bacteria and fungi not only clog stems, but produce ethylene as
colonies develop: this is another reason working clean is
super-important.
Go deep
Every month or so, thoroughly clean cooler floors and walls, dosing
units and floor drains. It’s important to sweep debris off shelves and
hidden corners weekly, but deep cleaning means wiping down with a
sanitizing solution and this should be done at least once every two
months. Check your HVAC maintenance contract, as it likely includes
vacuuming compressor coils. Have this service done every six months to
make sure no Botrytis spores are hiding there either. At the risk of
dating myself, I remind readers to recall where the source of
legionnaires’ disease originated – A/C ducts! Clean coils also run more
efficiently, thereby reducing energy costs.
Think clean long term
Gouged, rough surfaces are perfect hiding places for germs. Consider
retiring old, severely scratched buckets. They are impossible to clean
properly. Is it time to resurface work tables with a durable, hard
surface? Hard surfaces (stainless steel or Lucite) improve sanitation
efforts considerably. Finally, clean and sharpen tools and cutters
regularly. Dirty chopper blades and dull design knives reinfect stems
with each cut. Dull blades give ragged stem ends and these stringy ends
leak cells and organic fluids in which bacteria explode.
Florists know that shrink is a line item under cost of goods.
Everything you do to reduce flower waste results in money falling to
the bottom line. Working clean is an excellent starting point for
reducing waste. Does everyone on your team realize that correct
handling ultimately offers customers better quality products? Happy
clients come back to buy again and again. Consider setting a goal to
reduce shrink by a certain percentage over the same period last year.
Keep enthusiasm strong among your employees by throwing a pizza lunch
every month the goal is achieved.
So, break out your best cleaning tools and be prepared to get down and
dirty this month. A clean working space, sanitized tools and a fresh
retail environment will help ensure success for Valentine’s Day and
beyond. CF
Gayle Smith draws information from more
than 30 years of floral industry experience. She currently works at the
technical manager for Chrysal, USA.
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