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There’s a new approach to bringing locally grown flowers to Long Islanders, and its by way of a baby blue 1976 Ford F100 pick-up truck.
Throughout this summer, husband and wife team, Marc Iervolino and Jaclyn Rutigliano, have been popping up at farmers markets, street festivals, and other outdoor fairs across the island with their business-on-wheels called Hometown Flower Co.
They’ve stopped at Babylon Village’s Farmers Market and will be at the next Alive by the Bay in Bay Shore.
The Huntington Village residents, which launched the company earlier this year, wanted to bring something unique to the flower scene.
“I grew up around flowers,” said Jaclyn, whose family owns Jack & Rose Florist in Woodbury.
She’d help her parents from time to time, but she wasn’t interested in that type of work at the time.
“I felt like the flower industry was so commoditized,” she said. “Everything sells, it’s all mass-produced, and nothing felt special.”
She didn’t get rejuvenated with flowers until she wanted to open her own venture with her husband.
“I like to favor things that are unique and different,” she told GreaterBayShore.”Things that look more natural and messy.”
She began reaching out to Long Island farms. That’s when she noticed something special.
“There is such energy going on Long Island right now,” she said. “On the florist side, most people go to your local wholesaler, not to the farms.”
According to the couple, though selling flowers has small margins than vegetables farmers do so as a bonus product, and to make their farms more attractive.
Now, with Hometown Flower Co., there is a new easier way to connect local flowers to the middle of the island.
“With us sourcing directly, they have new distribution methods down island in place for a secondary product,” said Jaclyn. “But more than half of our farmers grow flowers as their primary crop.”
how it works
Hometown Flower Co.uses a multi-pronged approach to bringing these flowers to Long Islanders.
First, the owners exclusively source the products from 12 farms spanning the island from Queens to Amagansett.
Then, they bring made-to-order arrangements to people through their mobile distribution, aka the 1976 Ford F100. Also, they also sell the flowers through a monthly subscription.
“It is a win-win for all of us,” said Jaclyn on farmers now having a new avenue to distribute their goods. “No one is doing this on Long Island.”
To learn more about Hometown’s story, click here.
Scroll down to see photos (Credit: Christine Castoro).
Top: Marc and Jaclyn Iervolino in front of their baby blue 1976 Ford F100 pick-up truck. (Credit: Facebook)
