Business Profile: Flowers are a Family Affair at Kremp Florist

On a sunny Saturday in late March, Kremp Florist is gearing up for spring, as it has since it first began selling flowers in 1958.

Monica Salvatore, a young employee who’s worked there for nine years, uses her artistic expertise to fashion a bouquet for new customer, Marcy Juliani, of Philadelphia.

Juliani’s granddaughter, Sarah, is in a school play, and flowers make the perfect gift, she said.

For years, Juliani had heard about Kremp’s, and finally, she visited the florist.

“They have such a good name,” she said.

For three generations, the Kremp family has remained a top competitor, constantly growing its business and expanding into the Internet age.

Kremp's was named “National Retail Florist of the Year” in 2006. Its aromatic showroom was given a million-dollar facelift several years ago. It houses floral favorites, such as African violets ($4.50 a piece) and cyclamen ($14.99)—on par with other local prices—in addition to offering a most unusual collection of gift items, according to Drew Kremp, vice president and son of founder Charles Kremp III.

But the real surprise at Kremp Florist is the tremendous scope of its operation and the fact that one of the top 10 florists in the entire country is located at 220 Davisville Road in Willow Grove.

That’s the kind of name Kremp has.

Kremp Florist is the quintessential family affair. All four children of Charles Kremp III and Gina Kremp work full-time for the operation. Although Charles, now 67, sold the store to his sons in 2005, he still comes in every day.

“My dad is involved in long-term planning and financing of the business,” said Drew. “He also works as a consultant in the flower industry.”

Kremp Florist easily weathered the economic recession.

“We’re proud that we didn’t have to lay anybody off,” said Drew.

Although the showroom is what walk-in customers see, there is much more to Kremp’s than meets the eye.

Upstairs is customer service. An order for flowers comes in over the phone or the Internet.

The sales person, in his little cubbyhole, guides the caller so the person can order just the right bouquet, fruit basket or gift from Kremp’s.

“We handle all the FTD (Florist's Telegraph Delievery) flowers in the Philadelphia area,” said Drew.

(FTD is a nationwide flower-delivery service began in 1910.)

As technology advanced over the years, the Kremp family made sure it kept up with the new electronic age.

State-of-the-art computers are housed in a room adjoining the sales cubbyholes. Every office space where employees have left for the day has its lights turned off. Wasting money is a "no-no" at Kremp's. Drew mentions hidden cameras throughout the store, where all can be viewed.

The Kremp family is good to its employees. Not only do the 50-plus employees have health and dental insurance, said Drew, but a gym was recently added.

Every minute counts when working holidays, such as Valentine's Day and Mother's Day. Due to the high volume of calls on such busiest days of the year, Leslie Kremp, wife of president Steve Kremp, brings in a home-cooked meal— perhaps lasagna and salad—dishes that are well-known to the whole crew.

During the week, the Kremp family usually lunches at the nearby Giant Supermarket’s sit-down cafe.

Since the florist is open 365 days a year, servicing funeral homes around the country, not even a blizzard can keep the Kremps and their employees away from their home away from home.

Drew himself plows out the parking lot, and company vehicles are sent out to pick up employees, he said.

Customer service is their middle name.

“We work really hard to maintain our top position,” said Drew.

Relaxing his 6-foot-2 frame  in the conference room, which is also used as a wedding showroom, Drew said, “We’re very good role models to our employees. We’re very hands-on. There’s nothing we don’t do, from sweeping up to weeding the plants.”

Drew remembers first working for his dad by the time he was 12, and he worked every single weekend at the shop in high school. After finishing Jenkintown High School, he went to New England College in New Hampshire, where he graduated with a degree in financing and marketing. He explained the importance of business in the floral industry.

“We are business people who run a flower shop, not the other way around,” he said. “We’re one of the top 10 florists in the whole country. Not too many shops are this size. We support ourselves and 50 employees. We like a certain kind of lifestyle and have to work very hard to maintain it.”

That means that golf, which he loves, and piloting an airplane (He got his license a few years ago.) must take a backseat to the job, which he “absolutely loves.”

His wife, Laura, works upstairs next to Mike Dever, the controller, who’s been on board more than 15 years.

“All of our employees,” said Drew, “are long-term.”

Even Drew’s children—Jack, 7, and Rosie, 4—make an occasional appearance at their dad's store, much as he did with his own father.

On the Kremp website, Charles Kremp III wrote about another amazing distinction of this little shop on Davisville Road.

“It is my honor once again to have been chosen to organize the floral activities for the Presidential Inaugural Committee,” he wrote.

Kremp’s has been instrumental in planning and organizing inaugural balls and galas since the Kennedy Administration, said Drew. Charles Kremp spearheads an all-volunteer force for presidential events for the Society of American Florists, and he asks florists nationwide to help out.

Read more on this topic on the Kremp's website here.

“My dad calls designers all across the country. We did Herbert Walker [Bush] and W. and Clinton. The last administration (Barack Obama) didn’t want flowers.”

Drew surmises that “(Obama) is younger” and probably thought, “Oh, we don’t need that, it’s frivolous.”

“The Bushes,” he said, “are very conservative. We made yellow roses. It was beautiful and very elegant.”

Always community-minded, Kremp works with garden groups and helps out with fund-raisers. “We’ll supply flowers and training at $5 per person,” he said.

Elaine Klawans, vice-president of the Upper Moreland Friends of the Library, remembers a recent fundraiser that was “marvelously successful” in bringing funds to the library.

The modernization of the showroom produced a gift shop of extraordinary beauty. Although it accounts for only 4 percent of the profit, said Drew, it’s stocked with items that include Webkinz, soaps, candles and wines from a vineyard in Erwinna.

Temptingly near the check-out counter is a glass-enclosed candy counter of homemade truffles and chocolates from Texas.

Further delighting the visitor is a splashing fish pond with an array of aquatic dwellers.

“We have an assortment of koi and goldfish and many turtles,” said Drew Kremp.

Two live parrots —an African Grey and an Amazon parrot—greet visitors who climb the ramp to the second floor.

Down the road on a 5-acre spread in Churchville is Kremp’s fully-automated greenhouse. If Kremp's doesn't import flowers from Hawaii, California, Thailand, Holland Columbia, or Ecuador, chances are they come from the florist's own greenhouse, run by brother Steve.

Does the Kremp family ever get tired of its life in flowers?

“At home,” said Drew, a lifelong resident of Jenkintown, “we don’t have one living plant or any fresh flowers because at work six days a week, I’m in charge of all the spring bedding plants, patio pots, annuals, hanging baskets, foliage plants in the greenhouse and fresh-cut flowers in the cooler.

“The last thing I want to do is worry about these things at home.”

However, Drew added, "if I’m not here, I’m always working on my yard.”