9 min readThis is a brief chronicle of the events that changed our company and Polish floristry. We would like to emphasise that the following text describes the story to the best of our knowledge and recollection.
It is no coincidence that throughout the text the word Bouqetmat we always write with a capital letter. In our company, the boss introduced this rule out of a deep respect for the product itself and the enormous effort the whole team put into creating it. For us Bouqetmat is a symbol to which we subscribe wholeheartedly.
This story features several people who played key roles at different stages of Bouqetmat's development:
Sebastian - originator,
Jacek - leader of the Bouqetmat work,
Marek - co-owner of the company,
Richard - ground-breaking idea,
Andrew - marketing and market momentum,
A separate role is also played by Customers who co-founded Bouqetmat from the beginning and, as they themselves emphasise today, "Our Bouqetmat".
It all started with Andrychów:
It all started in 2021 from the heart of Andrychów. It was there Sebastian, while observing the florist run by his mother, saw a real need for a solution that would allow customers to receive beautiful bouquets at any time of day or night. Sebastian felt that the traditional flower shop needed to extend the hours of operation of the florist, while giving more respite to the florist - his mum.
Sebastian, looking for technical possibilities to realise his idea, found a company in the north of Poland specialising in electronics. It was this company that contacted us, Eldrut, to ask for support in building the mechanics and construction of the device. Since Eldrut had already been involved in the production of dinner machines so it had sufficient competence to take on this project. This is how the first joint unit, which we called the Bouqetmat, came into being.
Soon, however, our partners in the north, who had done a great job at the start, decided they wanted to focus on their other existing projects, so we were left alone with the project. It was a moment when many companies could have pulled out. However, the determinationJack, Mark andSebastian proved stronger. Their steadfast persistence was due to the fact that they believed in the project like few others.
Jacek and Richard
At this point we must pay tribute to the man without whom this story might not have begun either. Jacek became the first manager of this project. It was he who created the first prototype and then, with Sebastian's substantive support, designed subsequent, ever-improving versions of the device. Jack's determination was almost legendary.
However, this technological jigsaw would not be complete without another important figure. A close friend and partner of ours was involved in the development process Richard. It was he who brought one of the absolutely key ideas to the project, without which the Bouqetmat would not be the device it is today. To this day, Ryszard and I still have fond memories of that breakthrough moment - that moment when, thanks to his suggestion, the project gained a completely new quality.
We tried Bouqetmat to get the market interested....
For the first two years, Jacek and Sebastian fought a battle for market interest. It was an extremely difficult time. With unbelievable persistence, Sebastian made hundreds, if not thousands, of phone calls to florists all over Poland during this period, trying to infect florists with the new idea.
Together with Jacek, they exhibited twice at trade fairs, putting all their available energy into it. Despite an initial lack of results and a cool reception from the industry, the three of them (Jacek, Sebastian and Marek) persisted. A huge role was played here by Marek who supported these activities, often putting vision and ideals above pure business considerations. This was crucial because the project was consuming further, very large resources to perfect the technology, and outside of our team no one yet believed in the success. We, however, had this good feeling.
Andrzej Dąbrowski
Eldrut as a company builds its experience in the metal industry since 1998. However, in the history of the Bouqetmat The end of 2022 proved to be crucial. It was then that the Andrew which Sebastian searched for.
Andrew was informed a few months after the start of the project that the Bouqetmat. Initially - like the rest of the industry - he was a sceptic. He openly claimed that Bouqetmat makes little sense in traditional floristry. However, in the meantime, by observing the market, he gained a customer and soon purchased the device himself for his florist, realising that this could be 'it'. The real breakthrough came during the trade fair at the end of 2022, when we placed the device directly on Andrew's stand. Seeing the great interest from visitors, Andrzej fully believed in the potential of the project - because it was 'finally' just the moment in the market, then the floristry industry needed it like never before, because it was Andrzej's stand.
As a man with a great deal of experience and commitment to social media, Andrew brought a new energy. It was he who spread the action, brilliant in its simplicity "Bouqetmat on trial".. This allowed the first customers to be convinced by the machine without taking a huge financial risk at the start. Today, Sebastian is developing the project in the Czech and Slovak markets, while Andrzej continues his mission to build the Polish and Western European market.
Our most important protagonists: customers
An important point was Mr Darek. It was thanks to him that the application on the phone to Bouqetmat. Darek had this idea - he wanted to have everything under control on his phone. Today we can't imagine Bouqetmat without this app. Darek pushed us to do it. And he was right. It changed the way a florist manages his business. It was another step towards modernity that we took thanks to brave customers.
We also have to mention Ms Asia here, who brought a lot of observation to the project. Above all, she brought her heart and showed what a passion for floristry is. She was the one who put a lot of energy into recommending our solutions abroad. Her support for foreign clients was invaluable. Ms Asia is the good soul of this project.
Ms Bianka, on the other hand, quickly made us professionals, she had patience with us at the first technical anomalies. However, Mrs Bianka believed in us, her trust and support in the fight against adversity was invaluable. It was thanks to her that we were able to learn from our mistakes and improve the technology. Her belief in the project was incredible.
But what we really have to thank here is all the other customers. Because it is they who have built our Bouqetmat. We just listen politely to your advice and insights. Without any discussion, we implement them. You are the ones who tell us what to improve, what to change and what works great.
There are many more people who would be worth mentioning. We don't want to leave anyone out, because each of you is a co-owner of the Bouqetmat project. Without your comments, these machines would never be as good as they are today.
DNA of Creation
What is extremely important in this story is a fact we discovered after running the project for about 1.5 years. All this time, we thought we were absolutely the first company to create a Bouqetmat. After a relatively long time, however, we found out that similar machines already existed in the world, although they were very few in Germany or the Netherlands, among others. In Poland at that time, there were only three machines - one imported from Italy and the second and third were probably custom-made machines.
Today, we believe that this ignorance was our greatest blessing. Thanks to it, we did not suggest the solutions of others, we did not look at ready-made models. We followed our own path, which allowed us to create groundbreaking technologies, develop unique know-how and earn several patents. We followed our own path, building something authentic from the ground up.
Mission: Support for the passionate florist
We introduced Bouqetmat to a wide market. We hit a difficult moment for the industry at the time - florists needed a tool to become competitive in the face of rapidly rising staff costs.
Our strategy from the beginning was to support the passionate. We knew that for a florist, buying Bouqetmat is a huge investment that they often would not be able to afford from their own resources. It has been helpful for many clients to funding through leasing so they could afford such a purchase. The customer who invested so much and bore the risk at the beginning of the Bouqetmat era surrounds the bouquets with the utmost care. The florists' owners make sure that every composition is perfect and the machine itself is impeccably cared for. Their overriding aim is that Bouqetmat has taken hold in their local community, so they put their whole heart into it. As a result, today Bouqetmat are renowned for the quality of their bouquets. The machine also provides the flowers with ideal conditions, which means that they later stand longer in vases at customers' homes.
If we started with big chains or investors who would treat this tool to build passive income - making the quality of the bouquets themselves NOT stand out - then today Bouqetmat could no longer be on the market. Today, the legend of Bouqetmat compositions is ingrained in people's minds, so the Bouqetmat project is no longer under threat.
Today: Polish Technical Thought in the World
Today Bouqetmat is a Polish pride that is beginning to revolutionise the European market. Thanks to the persistence Brand, an engineering passion Jack, vision Sebastian and Darek, supported by Richard, Asia and Bianca, energies Andrew, we export our equipment to19 countries worldwide.
This is a story about believing in hunches and ideals.