London Inc. Winter 2021-22 - 16

Upfront Startup
KEEPING
ROOMS IN
BLOOM
A subscription-based
floral delivery service
finds a receptive - and
growing - audience
LIKE MANY PROFESSIONALS
across many industries, Alex McCabe
watched the early days of the pandemic
make swift work of her job in sports
marketing.
Working in Toronto on campaigns
related to the Tokyo Olympics, McCabe
and many of her coworkers were furloughed
from their jobs when the games
were officially postponed in March
2020. And with the Olympics still very
much a question mark, it wasn't clear
when - or if - they were coming back.
" So, I moved back to London during
that time, thinking it was going to be
like what everybody thought - that I
was going to move home for two weeks
or a month, and then everything would
go away and we'd be back to normal, "
she says. " Obviously, that wasn't the
case. "
Not one to sit on her hands, McCabe
fiddled with hobbies, projects - anything
to keep busy in those weird
days. Hobbies and projects soon got
her thinking that she wanted to start
something more substantial - something
that could be a sustainable
business, " but also try to create something
that would put some smiles on
some Londoner's faces during a really
difficult time. "
What she created was Peony
(www.peony.love), an online subscription-based
flower delivery business
that brings a fresh, custom bouquet of
flowers to your door either bi-weekly or
monthly. Bouquets come in two sizes,
a regular-size bouquet, or a larger,
16 | londonincmagazine.ca | WINTER 2022
cutline
centrepiece-size bouquet.
" Having the opportunity to send
flowers to other people from afar was
a great opportunity, " she says. " I did
some research, and there weren't a lot
of people working in this space, specifically
around flower subscriptions. You
could buy one-off bouquets and send
them to people - at a high price. But for
those people that are staying at home
all the time or want to send monthly
gifts to people - I thought it would be
a great idea. "
McCabe officially launched Peony
in August 2020, starting with 10 subscribers
drawn mostly from family and
friends. But as word of mouth spread,
the number of bouquets continued to
grow, reaching 170 subscribers by last
Christmas. Nearly a year later, that
number is over 500, and McCabe has
Peony founder, Alex McCabe
sent out more than 4,500 bouquets
since Peony started.
A part of what has made Peony an
early success is McCabe's eye for bouquet
design. She doesn't have formal
floral design training beyond growing
up in an outdoorsy family (her mother,
who is also working in the business, has
a background as a landscape architect),
but she quickly discovered a natural
creative flair for creating unique and
inspired compositions.
" There's definitely an art to it, " she
says. " It's fun for me and it's fun for the
customers. We keep it personal and
special. I come up with a name for every
bouquet, and there's a bit of a theme for
each bouquet that goes out. "
McCabe sources flowers from as
many local growers as possible, with
many coming from the Niagara region.
http://www.peony.love http://www.londonincmagazine.ca
London Inc. Winter 2021-22

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