Cold temps present challenges for Valentine’s Day flower deliveries

It’s a busy weekend for flower deliveries with Valentine’s Day on Sunday, but these bitter cold temperatures across the Twin Cities are complicating things for florists and delivery companies.

It might be hard to find a flower shop as excited to be open on Valentine’s Day as Indulge and Bloom.

"I can’t think of anything else I’d rather be doing," said Raed Kakish, founder of Indulge and Bloom.

Kakish said, along with the ups and downs of the pandemic, his Uptown Minneapolis store was gutted during last spring’s unrest.

"This location was completely destroyed during the riots," Kakish said.

But, since reopening in December, they’re prepping arrangements for one of their best holidays.

"I am extremely happy, we are seeing our numbers up compared to last year," Kakish said.

But it’s the delivery of flowers during such cold temperatures that are presenting some challenges.

"This is a battle for a perishable product," said Lynn Grave, with Tonka Delivery.

At his warehouse in Roseville, Grave has about 6,000 deliveries this weekend helping florists across the Twin Cities.

"The warehouse fills up with a lot of trucks, and a lot of flowers," Grave said.

Grave said, with the cold, their drivers have to be extra careful.

"Reality is you probably only have a minute or two to get from your vehicle to the house," Grave said.

Grave said a wholesaler in the area recently ran into problems with their delivery to Minnesota.

"When the semi got here and they opened it up, checked the product, it was frozen up," Grave said.

Back in Uptown, Kakish said many shops will double-wrap the arrangements for an extra barrier to the cold air.

"The cold, it just kills them, it freezes them, they’re dead," Kakish said.

Despite the weather hurdle, those in the business are working double-time to get orders out, and they realize "on time" has a whole different meaning for this holiday.

"Valentine’s Day flowers don’t go over too well the day after," Graves said.