At Bloom & Wild, delivering a joyful experience that fits through a letter-box door slot
(Courtesy of Bloom & Wild Group)

When Aron Gelbard (MBA 2009) cofounded London-based Bloom & Wild in 2013, he did so with a specific goal: to make sending (and receiving) flowers an easy, joyful experience. “Flowers are a very emotive product category, but it didn’t seem that anyone had built a brand that people loved and trusted,” Gelbard recalls. “So often we just turned to a Google search. And the technology for mobile phone orders wasn’t very user-friendly.”

Out of these realizations, a startup blossomed. Today, Bloom & Wild delivers flowers and small gifts (candles, chocolates) to eight countries across the United Kingdom and continental Europe. By purchasing flowers direct from the grower, Bloom & Wild reduces waste to under 10 percent in an industry where it can run as high as 40 percent. Eliminating middlemen also increases vase life and leverages flowers’ ability to travel without water; many of the company’s bouquets are sent dry, in flat boxes that fit through a letter-box door slot.

Gelbard notes that Valentine’s Day is not a crush for Bloom & Wild, and he’s glad for it. Instead, 80 percent of the company’s customers are women gifting to other women, and they give steadily, all year. “Our product is more about being thoughtful and caring than the grand gesture,” explains Gelbard, who says the pink-and-peach Miss Piggy Rose is his favorite flower: “It has the tradition of a rose but the quirks and creativity of a different color palette, which is what we’re all about.”

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