Jason Klein·August 9, 2022

Flower Power: Buying a Rose Distributor Primed for Growth

Jason Klein, a 51-year-old former Air Force officer, ex-police officer, and 20-plus-year corporate healthcare IT executive, bought Kauai Isle Flowers in June 2021 — a 30-year-old rose distribution business headquartered in St. Pete, Florida that services approximately 600 convenience stores (7-Eleven, Circle K, and independent mom-and-pop shops). The business had roughly $1m in revenue and ~$250k SDE at acquisition; Jason paid all-cash from personal savings, bypassing SBA financing. The core competitive edge is a scan-based trading model (consignment) that convenience store chains prefer because it shifts inventory risk to the distributor — Jason only gets paid when a flower sells. Within 13 months he nearly tripled projected SDE (~$700k run-rate) by adding Circle K as a corporate account, launching a second depot near Jacksonville with 200+ pre-committed stores, and outsourcing flower sleeving to Colombian suppliers to remove a scaling bottleneck. His management playbook — committing to zero changes for six months, doing every frontline job himself, involving employees in decisions, and introducing quarterly profit-sharing bonuses — kept the inherited team intact and built trust. Jason is planning five locations within 12 months (adding North Carolina, Virginia, and Miami) and credits his corporate M&A experience for his change-management discipline, while acknowledging he wishes he had made the leap 20 years earlier.

Deal facts

sde ebitda: SDE ~$250k at acquisition
revenue: ~$1m at acquisition
financing structure: All-cash (no SBA loan)
notes: Acquired June 2021. By ~13 months post-close: revenue over $700k in first 6 months of year 2 (on track to double+), SDE over $300k in same 6 months, implying run-rate SDE ~$600k-700k. Seller was a husband-and-wife team who had run the business for 30 years.

Why this business

Jason and his wife wanted something they would genuinely enjoy, that already had proven cash flow, and that had clear room to grow — not just optimize costs. The flower distribution business served convenience stores in central Florida, a niche they saw as underserved and regionally confined, with greenfield expansion opportunities. The scan-based trading model (consignment-style) was a structural differentiator competitors couldn't easily replicate.

What's working

Scan-based trading model: flowers placed in convenience stores on consignment, paid only when sold — a differentiator that wins shelf space competitors cannot match
Geographic expansion: added Circle K as a major corporate customer and launched a second depot near Jacksonville with 200+ stores already lined up before opening
Route-based analytics: per-store sell-through data inherited from prior owner lets Jason dial up or down volume at each location weekly
Driver retention through flexibility: drivers choose their own hours and days, competing favorably with Amazon on quality of life
Operational efficiency gain by outsourcing flower sleeving and barcoding to Colombia suppliers, eliminating a key bottleneck at peak volume
Quarterly discretionary profit-sharing bonus instilled team buy-in and aligned employees with business performance
SDE nearly tripled in year one (from ~$250k run-rate to ~$700k projected) driven by revenue growth and new customer additions

What's hard

Distribution is fundamentally a vehicle business: tire rotations, oil changes, chip shortage causing van shortages and inflated used-vehicle prices dominate day-to-day operations
Roses are a perishable product on a constant clock from harvest to sale, limiting geographic reach from any single depot and requiring tight logistics
Scan-based model means Jason absorbs all unsold inventory risk
Gas prices doubling since acquisition and consumer sentiment shifting during 2022 inflation created choppiness in sell-through analytics that historical data could not predict
Letting go two long-tenured employees (one with 15-17 years) when sleeving was outsourced was a difficult but necessary call
Scaling to multiple locations required hiring a COO (trusted friend of 10+ years) — recognizing the limits of solo management before opening location two

Notable quotes

I will make no changes for six months and that was the truthful caveat. My job at the time as the new owner in my opinion was to shut up and listen and learn and do every job that I could do.

What you'll find — during that six month time when they see that you're not gonna do it and that you're gonna leave it alone — there is a line at your door of the things they want changed. They will come to you.

I should have done this 20 years ago. I should have scratched the entrepreneurial itch so to speak. I'm loving everything about it.

Make no mistake, whatever you're distributing — whether it's Will's chocolate bars or Jason's flowers — you're in the car business.